


Susan's Secret

by LucyCrewe11 (Raphaela_Crowley)



Series: Susan is a Mermaid, Peter Is adopted (Because That's a Thing, Seventeen-year-old Me Decided) [2]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, H2O: Just Add Water
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Drama, F/M, POV Susan Pevensie, Peter is adopted, Post-Book: The Last Battle (Narnia), Romance, Susan is a Mermaid, Teen Romance, The Problem of Susan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 38,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphaela_Crowley/pseuds/LucyCrewe11
Summary: When Susan discovers Peter is adopted she is rather upset, but when she gets a "fishy" secret of her own, she starts to understand why even people who love each other have secrets.
Relationships: Edmund Pevensie/Julia Dove, Peter Pevensie/Susan Pevensie
Series: Susan is a Mermaid, Peter Is adopted (Because That's a Thing, Seventeen-year-old Me Decided) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977607
Kudos: 6





	1. Susan's Tail of Woe

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2008 (the first written of the Narnia/h2o crossovers I did, but second in chronological order).
> 
> If this seems like it was written by a melodramatic teenager going through some stuff, that's because it was. Shrugs.

"Lucy!" Peter called. "Don't lean so far off the banister! You'll fall."

Lucy sighed and gently began pulling herself away from the edge of the boat. Not that she wanted to, but Mum had said that Peter was in charge and anyway, Peter only wanted what was best for her.

The four Pevensies were going on vacation to some place called Mako Island. Edmund had won two tickets at a school event. Lucy who loved to travel had begged to come with him. Of course he couldn't just turn down his sweet little sister's pleas. But there was one rule, Peter and Susan had to come along too.

"How?" Edmund had asked. "They don't even have tickets."

"We'll pay for it." Mr. Pevensie had insisted.

"Why aren't you coming with us?" Lucy had wanted to know. "Peter and Susan aren't grown ups."

"Your father is too busy with work to take a vacation and anyway, Peter and Susan can look after you, it's only for a week. The boat drops you guys off with food and a guide you learn about nature, you come home. It'll be good for you." Mrs. Pevensie had explained.

"I think Susan's mad at me." Peter said as they packed their bags the day before setting off.

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"How should I know? She wont talk to me." Peter said in a confused voice. "She wouldn't even ask me to pass the butter at supper last night, she asked Edmund to do it even though it wasn't anywhere near him."

"I noticed something was up." Edmund agreed. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"No." Peter said. At least not that he remembered. So why was she so mad. It couldn't be about the trip. Susan had already said she didn't mind going and she wasn't being distant with Edmund and Lucy.

This didn't make any sense. If anything, her anger made him feel upset. After coming back from Narnia, Peter had heard Susan crying in her room at the professor's house. They'd talked and promised to tell each other everything so they didn't have to suffer alone. After all, they were both the oldest and could really use someone close to their age to talk to. Now she wasn't talking to him at all.

She's come down from the attic stairs the day before with bloodshot eyes and an angry scowl. But she wouldn't tell anyone what had happened up there. Not even Peter. So much for telling each other everything...

Little did Peter know that Susan had found out the one thing he'd been keeping from her. The one thing he couldn't bring himself to tell her. The one thing that made him different from his siblings. His real last name. Everyone in the area knew Peter Pevensie but Susan had just found out about an orphan baby boy who was once known as Peter Burke before he was adopted by a kind husband and wife who went by the name of Pevensie.

After a while, Susan started talking to him again without being grumpy and he'd wondered if maybe, he'd misunderstood her. Maybe it had just been that time of month or something.

and now they were all setting sail for Mako Island.

Lucy couldn't get enough of the salty sea air. It reminded her of all their sailing trips in Narnia to all the neighboring countries. But Peter wasn't about to let her excitement cause her to fall out of the boat.

"Edmund, Susan, Peter!" Lucy cried pointing ahead. "Look! Look! That must be the island!"

Edmund now started leaning forward. "She's right!"

"This is your guide." The captain told them as they got off the boat.

Susan felt a little sea sick. Edmund was a tad bit dizzy and had to hold his head up from behing overly tired. Lucy and Peter however felt perfectly fine.

Their 'guide' was the scariest looking man they'd ever seen. He was about six feet tall with a dark mustache. Dollars to donuts the man was carrying a gun or two on his person.

Lucy let out a small whimper and hid behind Peter. Edmund tried to hide behind him too before he realized how silly it made him look. Rather he took a step in front of his other sister. There, now he looked tough.

"I am Mr. Pickles." The guide said in a gruff voice.

"Pickles." Edmund laughed, holding his side.

"You got a problem with that, boy?" The guide said glaring at him.

Edmund stopped laughing. It wasn't funny when the guy you were making fun of could smash you like a bug.

"You will all stay together and do as I say." The guide told them. "Or else!"

Edmund raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Is using threats on other people's children legal?" He asked.

"Does it matter?" The man hissed through his teeth.

"Guess not." Edmund said in a small voice.

"Now march." Mr. Pickles barked, pointing at a hill to the left of them. "We have to hike to higher grounds so we can set up camp."

Susan looked down at her adorable traveling shoes. They didn't have a hike in them. "But my shoes..." She protested.

"Never mind your shoes." Mr. Pickles showed no mercy. "March!"

Susan let out a whimper.

"Su, it's not a long hike, a baby could make it up that hill." Peter told her pointing to the hill they were about to climb.

"A baby doesn't have designer foot wear." Susan grumped wishing she'd had the sense to wear her sneakers on the boat.

When they had made it up the hill, and pitched the tent, Lucy wanted marshmallows. This would've been okay if Peter and Edmund hadn't gotten into a marshmallow throwing fight.

"There goes our snack." Lucy said as Edmund got a piece of white candy hurled at his eye.

"Well, there must be something else you want to do." Susan said.

"Let's go exploring!' Lucy begged.

"Mr. Nickels wouldn't like it." Susan reminded her.

"Pickles," Lucy said. "His name is pickles."

"Whatever." Susan rolled her eyes.

The said Mr. Pickles was sleeping in a chair next to their tent.

"Please?" Lucy begged. "We won't go far."

"Oh, alright." Susan gave in. "But I'm changing my shoes first."

Lucy jumped up and down with delight.

Moments later, they were walking about the small island looking at all the rows of trees and plants.

"Oh I do wish they could talk like the ones in Narnia do!" Lucy said as she spun around to touch the bark of an unfamiliar type of tree.

"This ground we're on now is getting kind of high and slippery." Susan noted we should go back.

"Just a little longer?" Lucy begged taking one more step as she spoke. It was fatal. That one step caused her to fall down several feet into what appeared to be an underground cave of some sort.

"Lucy!" Susan screamed from the opening. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Lucy called back. "But I hit my foot on a rock. It's too sore to climb back up. Can you come down and get me?"

It might have been wiser for Susan to go get Mr. Pickles to pull Lucy out but she didn't think of that. All she could think of was that her little sister was trapped and frightened in some unknown cave. She had to save her! she just had to.

But as she tried to climb down carefully, she slipped and got herself stuck in the cave too.

"Great!" Susan grumped. "Now how do we get out of this?"

"Look at that!" Lucy gasped suddenly.

There was a large pool of water inside the cave there was a hole in the sky of the cave that you could see part of the sky through.

"Lucy!" Susan gasped. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"That pool might lead to the ocean." Susan explained. "I can go in and swim out the other side."

"But what about me?" Lucy asked. "What if I can't make it all that way?"

"I'll go first." Susan told her. "and see if it's too deep for you or not then you can come after me when I've checked it out."

Lucy nodded. There was no other way. It was already getting dark out and she didn't really want to spend the night in a damp cave.

Susan stuck a toe into the water and then pulled it out. She remembered that her father had always told her it wasn't wise to bathe in a place you didn't know. but what else could she do? She sighed and climbed into the water. It was cool and refreshing. Much nicer than the pool she so often swam in at school. She was a big deal on the school's swim team back there. So this little swim should be nothing, right?

She took a deep breath and swam under the water looking for a way out. In a little while she returned with fairly good news.

"Lucy, it's about a twenty second swim if you go really fast." Susan told her.

"But I can't!' Lucy could barely swim at all. She wished she was still her older queen of Narnia self she could have easily done it then.

"Come on Lu." Susan said reaching her hand up for Lucy to come into the water with her. "I'll be right beside you."

Rather than get in, Lucy started gaping up at the sky. It was a beautiful bright full moon. The water below now shown like a bright while-yellow gem and seemed to have glowing bubbles coming up from it. For half a second Susan felt rather strange. Then she felt perfectly fine after the moon passed from over her.

Before Lucy could get into the water, there was a call from an angry Mr. Pickles. And a rope was sent down from the opening.

Lucy climbed up the rope and out. Susan got out of the pool and followed but it was harder for her because she was so wet and kept slipping.

"What were you thinking?" Mr. Pickles scolded.

"We only wanted to explore." Lucy said softly. "We didn't mean to get stuck down there."

Peter and Edmund were there with him and happily hugged their sisters with tears of joy in their eyes.

"Are you girls alright?" Peter asked.

"We're fine." Susan assured him. "Lucy's heel a is a little bruised but she'll be okay."

After that, Mr. Pickles declared them the worst behaved children he'd ever met and refused to look after them anymore. And with no guide the trip was over. They were all piled back onto the next boat and sent back to London as quickly as possible.

Their parents were more than a little disappointed in them but after a couple of unpleasant scoldings there was nothing left to say about it.

Three weeks later (After being grounded for nearly a month), The children went to the local shore to collect shells and play in the water.

Susan changed into her swim suit behind a rock and then crawled into the water with out being seen. She wanted to get in some swimming practice for school which was starting up again fairly soon.

As she eased into the water she felt like her whole body was turning into water for about half a second. Then suddenly her legs were gone and there was a big fat gold fish tail where they had been.

Lucy and Peter were making sandcastles that Edmund was smashing every time they finished. Suddenly they heard a scream.

"Susan?" Edmund called. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Susan lied weakly. "Really, I thought something grabbed me but it was just a piece of sea weed. I'm fine."

But she wasn't fine. Not even a little bit. She was a fish. Just like the ones that sang for them in Narnia. But this was England. And in England being a half fish was most certainly not fine.

Wondering if drying off would help, Susan got out of the water and grabbed her towel. Everything was back to normal. No more Mermaid fin. What had happened?

She joined the others in building sand castles but wouldn't go back in the water even when they did.


	2. When the moon hits your eye

Being a mermaid was downright weird. Sometimes, Susan would sit in the tub gaping at the tail that hung over it. Her thoughts would be so far away that sometimes she's spend hours there. After all, it did feel good to be in the water. And as she rarely went near water now-a-days in fear that someone would see her fish tail, she to make up for the loss. She figured she would have to quit the school swim team. But she still hadn't decided how to tell her parents. She certainly wasn't going to tell them she was mermaid. That was mad talk. They'd see her differently if she told them. They'd try to protect her from crazy scientist people or something. She'd never get to be a normal girl again.

"Susan!" Edmund yelled from outside the bathroom. "You've been in there for five hours, I need to pee!"

With a heavy sigh, Susan got out of the tub, dried herself off, and watched her fin turn into legs again. Why me? She thought sadly. But she didn't dare cry. What if a tear drop made her fin appear again?

Time passed and Susan spent most of it on her own wondering how she would-no, could-keep the secret once she started school. What if a girl tripped and spilled a glass of water on her? What if a teacher ordered her to get touch water? What if...

Her mind was so full of what ifs that she didn't have time for her siblings anymore. She stopped reading Lucy stories at night. She never helped Edmund study math or history anymore. And she spent less time with Peter too. Sometimes he would want to talk to her and she wouldn't even be able to pay attention. Her mind was always on something else.

One time when he sat next to her with glass of water, he laughed at something causing a drop to escape from the glass and land on Susan's arm. Susan let out a gasp and raced into the bathroom and locked herself in. Peter knocked on the door to see if she was alright but all she said was, "I'm fine, go away."

But the worse thing for Susan was that she was completely unaware of a danger mermaids must protect themselves against at all costs. The full moon. She didn't think anything of looking out her window at the big silvery mirror in the sky. She'd done it many times before with nothing to worry about. But this time was different. She gazed at it, it was calling her to the water. She wouldn't stay cooped up in a stuffy house when the cool water and lovely sweet night air were offering themselves to her.

Her bedroom door was open and Peter happened to walk by just as Susan was lifting the window's latch.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked. "We never open the windows at night."

"I'm going out." She said calmly, her eyes still on the full moon.

"What?" Peter cried. "Where?"

"Out." She repeated.

"I know that." He moaned. "Out where?"

"I don't know." Susan said still not looking at him.

"Then get back in here." Peter said as she leaned her head out.

"No." She sighed in a distant dreamy voice. "I'm going." She started to climb out the window.

"The heck you are!" It wasn't a very kingly thing to say but at the moment it could be forgiven all things considered. He reached out, grabbed her feet and pulled.

"Let go." She said in that same calm voice.

"No!" He pulled harder. "What's wrong with you?"

She turned and looked at him for a moment but her expression gave him chills. It was like she wasn't even sure who she was speaking with. Her eyes had this freakish distance about them and her pupils were huge.

Without thinking, she kicked at his face. And uttered another calm, "Let go."

When He didn't, she kicked harder. This time he let go to put his hand to his eye. That was going to leave a mark. She managed to slip away now.

"Goodbye." She said softly as she raced out of the yard. She was out. Where to go now?

After wandering about aimlessly, Susan finally came to a neighbor's back yard. There was a huge pool there and the moon was reflected in it. She jumped in with out a care and her tail formed. She didn't worry about getting caught. Under the grip of the full moon she didn't worry about anything. She wasn't even worried about Peter back home sitting with a raw steak to his eye wondering why she'd kicked him. She just swam and swam around in laps until she felt sleepy. Then she eased herself in to one of the lounge chairs by the pool. Even when she was dry, the tail stayed. But Susan didn't care about that now.

In the morning, the tail was gone and there was just a shivering, normal, Susan Pevensie asleep on the lounge chair.

The Neighbor was to say the least, surprised at seeing the elder Pevensie girl asleep in her back yard. But she was good friends with Mrs. Pevensie (They were in some kind of book club together) and didn't yell at her. She simply woke her up and asked why she was there.

"I don't know." Susan gasped. The last thing she could remember was looking at the full moon. She didn't remember anything else. Not swimming in the pool, not talking with Peter, not kicking Peter in the face, not any of it.

"You look scared dear." The neighbor said kindly. "Come inside and warm up. I just made some tea. I'll call your mother and tell her you're safe and well. Goodness dearie, were you here all night?"

"I don't remember." Susan mumbled.

"Susan sweetheart, you weren't...drinking were you?" The Neighbor asked. "I know about peer pressure and all that but dear, it's really not..."

"I wasn't drinking." Susan said. At least she didn't think so. Was this really happening? This had to be some kind of weird dream.

Her mother and father weren't home. They thought Susan was in her bed that morning and had already gone. Mrs. Pevensie was food shopping with Lucy and Mr. Pevensie was at work.

Only Peter and Edmund were home.

"Well can one of you come and get your sister?" The neighbor asked over the phone. "She seems dazed and I don't feel right sending her back by herself."

"I'll come." Peter grumped. He was still mad at her for kicking him but it was still his duty to come and get her.

When he arrived, Susan let out a cry. There was a huge dark bruise around Peter's left eye.

"What happened?" Susan asked him. "Where you in a fight?"

"Su!" Peter barked as he walked her home. "Don't you remember? You gave me this little present last night."

"I what?" Susan gasped feeling sick to her stomach. "What else happened last night?"

"You don't remember?"

"No." Susan looked at Peter's eye again. "I'm so sorry, does it hurt? Are you okay? Why did I...?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Peter said swinging the door to their house open. "Just get in."

"I'm so sorry, Peter." Susan insisted. "I didn't mean to. You believe me right?"

"Sure." He shrugged. He'd forgive her in time but not right now.


	3. Every secret told

"Susan I wont let you do this!" Mrs. Pevensie said when her daughter arrived home after the term with a note from the teacher that said that Susan was no longer on the swim team.

"I can do what a I want." Susan cried. "I'm not a little kid and I just don't want to swim anymore okay?"

"But Susan, sweetie, you love swimming."

"No I don't!" Susan insisted she backed into a table with a large water-filled vase on it. A few drops landed on her arm. "Darn it!" She screamed, racing into her room and slamming the door behind her.

Peter stood in the hallway watching them fight, wondering what in the world had caused Susan to quit. She really did love swimming. At school she'd won prizes for it. At home she actually begged Peter to help her train so that she didn't lose her speed. But now she didn't care about it? What was up with that?

Of course there was the obvious answer that she was on drugs or something but somehow Peter didn't think that was it. It was something else, something she wasn't telling him. And he was going to find out what it was.

"Susan?" He knocked on her door.

"Go away." She called.

"Can I come in?" He asked ignoring what she had just said.

"No, I told you to go away." Inside the room, Susan laid sprawled out on the floor glaring at her tail. Stupid thing! It made life so hard!

"Su..." His voice was full of concern.

"What part of go away don't you understand?" Susan shouted wishing she'd had the time to lock the door before her tail had formed. What if he walked in and saw her like this? By Aslan, please don't let him come in here. She thought to herself.

"Whoa...She's grumpy." Edmund said as he walked by. "What's wrong with her?"

"Maybe she's moody because she got kicked of the swim team." Lucy said coming up behind them eating a gram cracker.

"She didn't get kicked off, she quit." Edmund told her.

"What? Why?"

"She won't tell anyone." Edmund shrugged.

"Weird." Lucy scrunched up her face in confusion.

Hours later, Susan came out of her room. She was feeling thirsty. She tiptoed quietly into the kitchen. After that outburst she wasn't sure she wanted to meet up with anyone from her family right now. Especially not Peter.

But just as Susan poured herself a glass of water (being careful to let none of it actually touch her skin.) Peter arrived in the kitchen.

"Susan, we need to talk." He said firmly.

Susan tried to ignore him. She sighed and grabbed a plastic straw for her water (If she drank it without one some might escape and land on her neck.) as she tried to casually walk away.

Peter reached out and grabbed her wrist. Now what?

"What do you want?" Susan asked.

"I want to know what's wrong with you lately." Peter said, not wasting any time beating around the bush. "You've been acting really weird."

"I have not." Susan quickly lied, feeling very stupid.

"Let's recap shall we? You kicked me in the face, was found in a neighbors back yard at an ungodly hour, run like the wind whenever you come near water, and you quit the swim team." Peter shook his head. "I'm starting to see a pattern of weird events centered around water."

"It's nothing, really." Susan insisted. "I just don't want to swim anymore that all. Honest."

"I can't believe you're lying to my face." Peter glared at her. "We promised to tell each other everything."

"I know..." For a moment she wanted to tell him the truth but deep down she knew she couldn't. "I mean, I'm not lying..."

"Susan!" He was getting fed up fast. "Just tell me what's going on."

Suddenly a new realization dawned on her. He was one to talk! He'd been keeping a secret from her for years. The little known fact that his last name was Burke! The fact that he wasn't even really her brother. And he didn't think she had a right to know? Now Susan didn't feel half as guilty about keeping her mermaid tail a secret.

"We promised, Su." He said. "Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, Peter Burke!" She snapped before she could stop herself.

He looked like he'd been punched in the stomach. "How did you find out?"

"Box in the attic." Susan said weakly.

"How long have you known?" He asked holding back tears.

"I found out right before we left to go to Mako Island." She confessed.

Peter gulped. "I...I really didn't want you to know about that...I didn't want anyone to know..."

"What about telling each other everything?" Susan asked with more bitterness than even she knew she had in her.

"I thought you wouldn't like me anymore..." Peter said sadly. Susan couldn't help but notice for once he didn't look old and over protective, he looked small and helpless. "I thought that if any of you ever found out you wouldn't treat me the same way."

"That's not giving me a lot of credit." Susan told him.

"I know..." Peter said. "But you don't know how hard it is."

"Do you know anything about your real parents?" Susan asked.

Peter nodded. "My father's name was Jacob Burke he was very rich. My Mother's name was Elise Burke. They married very young and didn't want some kid bothering them all the time. After I was born they didn't even name me. They let the maid pick it. A few months later, they dumped me in an orphanage and moved to an even richer part of town."

Susan felt sick. Poor thing. His parents were horrible human beings. They didn't even want their own son. What kind of monsters were they?

"Mom was already pregnant with you when she adopted me. She went to the orphanage to volunteer..." Peter was still trying not to cry. "And Mum told me that I grabbed onto her leg and wouldn't let go. And that's how I met mum and dad."

"And they took you in." Susan already knew that part.

"Please...don't ever...call me Peter Burke again..." He was fairly begging. "That's not even my name...I'm Peter Pevensie...I'll always be...Peter Pevensie."

"I know, I'm sorry." Susan said. "I promise never to call you that again if..."

"If what..."

"If you promise...if you promise..." She was going to tell him. She had to. "...not to call me fish girl."

"Why would I call you fish girl?" Peter didn't understand what in the world she was talking about.

Susan took a deep breath and tilted her water glass so that the water fell on her arm. She counted back in her head. In a few moments, he'd know everything. Would she regret this? Maybe. But he needed to know.

Suddenly she fell to the ground, a long fish tail where her legs had been moments ago. Susan waited a moment before looking up to see his reaction.

Peter's mouth dropped open. "Oh my..."

"Hand me a towel?" She asked. "I'll turn back to normal once I'm dry."

He handed her a dish towel that hung by the stove. His eyes were wide and he was obviously in shock. "How?"

"I think it had something to do with that pool of water on Mako." Susan told him. I don't know...But I really think it had something to do with the moon too."

Peter smiled. "So that's why you wont go near water."

"Well, what did you think it was?" Susan asked.

"I couldn't even guess." He kept staring at her. She made a very pretty mermaid he had to admit that. Even prettier than the Narnian ones.

"Stop looking at me like that..." Susan started blushing. "...It's creepy."

"Sorry." Peter helped her back up as her legs re-formed and her tail vanished.

Susan happened to glance at a drop of water on the counter top that was about to land on the floor. With out thinking she waved her hand at it. The water froze in mid air. How had she done that? "Peter, re-fill the glass would you?" She pointed to the glass of water on the counter.

He did so. She twisted her wrist in the glass's direction and it started to boil. Peter walked over to it and touched it with his pinky finger. "Hot!" he gasped blowing on the now-turning red finger.

Then Susan waved her hand again and the water started to swirl out of the glass. Just as it was about to hit her, she froze it in mid air.

"I didn't know Mermaids could do that." Peter said sounding somewhere between impressed and very freaked out.

"Me neither." Susan told him, her eyes as wide as humanly possible.

"Are you going to tell Edmund and Lucy?" Peter asked her.

Susan wasn't sure. "I don't know, but for now let's not tell them anything. It's our secret got it?"

"Got it."


	4. Splashing fishy

Peter faithfully kept Susan's secret, and true to his word, he never called her fish girl or teased her about having a tail. Not even as a joke. He did worry about her though. What if someone found out and took her away? What if it rained just as they were about to go somewhere?

In fact, it did rain just as the family was getting ready to go to visit Grandma Pevensie.

They were getting ready to leave, everyone's suitcases were already in the car and they were just grabbing a few last things. Peter noticed Susan gaping at something from the door way. Big dark rain clouds had gathered, which could mean a lot of water.

"The weather report says it's only going to be over cast." Peter said as much to himself as to her. It sure didn't looking like over cast. It looked like it was going to start pouring any second.

"That does not look like over cast." Susan gulped. Maybe she should race into the car now before it was too late.

"Don't worry, there's no way it will just start..." Peter started.

With a loud burst of thunder, water started falling from the sky so thickly that you could barely see though it.

"...raining." He finished.

"I wouldn't even make it off the porch." Susan sigh-whispered.

Lucy came down the stairs all the more cheerful to see that it was rainy out. She liked the feel of rain. Without even a coat and hat on she started for the door but Peter pulled her back and made her put on her coat and hat before running out. She didn't run to the car, only fast walked. She clearly didn't mind getting a little wet.

Edmund let out a groan before making a dash for the car. Susan watched them both waiting in the backseat. Peter would make it there no problem, but what about her?

"Come along dears." Mrs. Pevensie said cheerfully.

"Where's your umbrella?" Susan asked her mother.

"Oh, it was misplaced somewhere." She shrugged her shoulders. "No big deal."

"They're not bullets." Mr. Pevensie laughed noticing the panicked look on his daughter's face. "We'll just make a run for it."

Susan didn't know what to do. She thought she was going to be sick. Wait, that was it! She was going to be sick! She let out a groan and put her hand to her stomach. "I don't feel so well..." She looked at Peter, hoping he got the hit.

"Oh, you don't think you caught the flu do you?" He played along.

"I don't know." Susan said hoping her acting wasn't as horrible was she thought it was. "I just need to lie down for a moment."

If it had been Edmund who'd faked sick many times, Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie wouldn't have even blinked but Susan was rarely ever sick and had never faked it before. They helped her to the couch.

"I guess I'd better tell mum we aren't coming." Mr. Pevensie said looking down at his daughter. "She'll be disappointed but what else can we do?"

Poor Grandma Pevensie, she lived for visits and she didn't get many. She's always been kind to Peter too even though she was one of the few people who knew his secret. Which made him feel a tad bit guilty at the moment. But what about Susan?

"Why don't you two go with Edmund and Lucy? I'll stay here with Su and make sure she's doesn't get any worse." Peter offered. "It's only for a week anyway."

"Well...I don't know..." Mrs. Pevensie started.

"My mother hasn't stopped talking about how long it's been since she last saw Ed, and you know Lucy's a sort of favorite with her...it would make her really happy if they came." Mr. Pevensie thought it over.

"But without Susan and Peter?" Mrs. Pevensie asked.

"They'll be missed but it'll be better than nothing." Mr. Pevensie sighed.

"Mum!" Edmund's voice called from the car. "Lucy wont stay on her side of the car."

"The middle does not count!" Lucy's voice said back.

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Doesn't."

"Does."

"It's both of ours!"

"it's not."

"Why do you get it?"

"I'm bigger and older than you."

"So?"

"Great, seven hours of that to look forward to." Mr. Pevensie moaned, hoping his mother was grateful that he wasn't leaving them behind too. He went out to the car and took out Peter and Susan's suitcases, bringing them back into the house. (Edmund and Lucy rarely fought having learned many life lessons in Narnia but sometimes they got into stupid arguments as most siblings do)

"If she gets worse call us." Mrs. Pevensie said giving her two oldest children each a kiss goodbye on the forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too, mum." They called back.

Susan let out a sigh of relief as she heard the car starting up. "That was close."

"Tell me about it." Peter agreed.

"Now what are we going to do for a week?" Peter wondered out loud.

"Just hang around I guess." Susan said in a laughing sort of voice. "I'm ill remember?"

Peter started laughing. "Speaking of which, we have got to get you some acting lessons." He fell to the ground in an exaggerated mimic of her pretend sickness.

It was a pretty good Imation. Susan burst out laughing at it. "But apparently you don't need them."

"I'm talented and you're not." He teased.

"Well at least, I didn't get politely asked to skip dance class when the people who paid for the school came to visit." Susan laughed.

"I hated that class anyway." Peter shuddered remembering the horrid class mum had talked him into taking.

An hour later, the rain let up. Peter had an idea. "Hey Su, why don't we go swimming?"

"You're kidding right?" Susan frowned at him. How exactly did he expect her to hide her tail while doing this?

"No, think about it, we could go up to the part of the lake where all the weeds grow, no one would see you." He explained.

Susan shook her head. "No one swims that far up."

"That's why you wouldn't be seen." Peter pointed out.

"What about currents?" Susan asked.

Peter slapped his forehead. "Su, you're a mermaid for Aslan's sake. You don't need to worry about currents."

"You think?" Susan hadn't really seen it in that light before but he was right. If she was a mermaid, she could swim through anything.

"Sure." Peter said. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Oh, alright." Susan gave in. She did miss swimming. And it did sound like fun.

"Great Scott!" Peter exclaimed as he tried to walk through the thick weeds over to the water. "It's like a jungle."

Susan had been listening to him until she reached the water. Then feeling a tremor of excitement, she dived in. She let out a squeal of delight as she surfaced flapping her tail behind her. She did a small flip in the water and then surfaced again.

"Show off." Peter teased.

Susan splashed him.

"Hey!"

Then Susan reached over, grabbed his arm and pulled him into the water.

"You got water up my nose." Peter protested in a voice that made it clear he wasn't the least bit upset.

"Well, aren't you going to do anything about it?" Susan asked using her tail to make a big wave and splash him again.

He splashed back. She laughed and dived under the water just as it was about to hit her.

"Cheater." He splashed again when she came back up.

"You'd better watch it." Susan told him.

"Why?"

"Because what if all that stuff in myths about mermaids drowning young men is true?" She teased

"I'm not scared of you." Peter stuck out his tongue at her.

"Oh yeah?" She drove under and pulled on his feet.

"That tickles." He laughed, grabbing onto her fin. She flapped it up and down trying to get him to let go.

The fun stopped suddenly when they heard a voice call, "Mum, I'm telling you there's a huge golden fishy up there!" A small child who'd been in some of the more distant weeds had managed to spy Susan's tail but he hadn't seen the human half of her or the fact that she wasn't alone before racing off to tell his mum.

"We've got to get out of here." Peter said calmly. He got out of the water then reached out his hand and pulled Susan out behind him. "How fast can you dry off?"

Susan had an idea. If she could boil things, was it possible she could use that power to dry off quicker and get rid of her tail before anyone saw her? She tried it. Thankfully, it worked and her legs came back just as the little boy arrived pulling his mum by the hand.

"I don't see a big fish." The boy's mum said.

"Fishy?" The boy looking sadly at the water. "Here fishy..."

Susan and Peter waved to the boy and his mother. She didn't wave back she grabbed her son's hand and told him not to make up stories about fish anymore or else she wasn't going to bring him to the lake again.


	5. Moonkissed

The day before the end of the week was a full moon. Although Peter and Susan weren't sure of what it meant, they figured it would be best to avoid it. After all Peter still remembered the black eye he'd gotten last time.

"Remember, don't look at the moon tonight." Peter said as he closed the drapes on all the windows, hoping that no moonlight could get in. "It's best not to test these things until we know what's going on."

Susan who was sitting on the couch watching him nodded. "But what about the windows up stairs?"

"Already covered and locked." Peter assured her.

"Does this mean I'm a were-wolf or something?" Susan wondered aloud.

"I hope not." Peter smiled.

"Me too." Susan sighed and got up.

"Wait, where are you going?" Peter asked nervously.

"The bathroom." Susan rolled her eyes. "It's okay I think I can handle it."

"Why do I have the feeling I've forgotten something?" Peter said to himself. He was fairly certain he'd covered up all the windows but he kept thinking he'd forgotten one and he couldn't for the life of him remember which it was. "Let me think, I got all the ones up stairs, all the ones in the living room, the bathroom, Lucy's room, Edmund's room, the kitchen..." Oh no, he remembered that he'd forgotten the window right above the sink. And Susan was going to have to go passed that window...He had to get here before she did.

He didn't get there before she did. She had already seen the slivery light coming through the window and had decided to go on the front porch when he raced in. "Su, are you alright?" He asked as he followed her.

"I'm fine." She said in a distant voice gazing up at the moon. "I don't like it here though."

"What?" Peter didn't like were this was going.

"I should be in the water." She said.

"No, you really shouldn't." Peter said firmly. "Come on let's go back inside into the living room and get you out of this moonlight."

"I bet I could swim to Mako in a little more then a day if I didn't stop and went really fast." Susan said ignoring him.

"That's great, now why don't we go inside and...er...talk about about Mako some more." Maybe if he humored her he could get her back indoors.

"Why talk about it when I could just go?" Susan said, a smile forming on her face.

"All by yourself?" Peter pointed out.

"I'm a mermaid, I'd be just fine, I'm always happy in the water. I'm not scared." She giggled.

Peter had an idea. "But you'd rather go with someone with you wouldn't you?"

"Who?"

"I'll come, but you have to com inside and help me um...find something first." Peter said, nudging her inside.

"I saw the moon." Susan said.

"I know." Peter moaned.

"It's so beautiful." She sighed. "I like my tail better than my legs."

"That's great." Peter shook his head trying to figure out a plan. Maybe if he locked her in a room somewhere until she snapped out of it...He could always lock her in her room. but Then she could unlock the window and get out. But the bathroom window was too small to climb out so if he locked her in there...problem solved.

"I want to go for a swim." Susan protested as Peter opened the bathroom door and tried to get her in there.

"You will, just...um...go in there first." Peter tried. It worked, in her dazed state of mind she was easily tricked. Now what? The door only locked from the inside. So he'd have to stand guard until the moon went down. This was going to be a long long night.

"We're home." Mr. Pevensie's voice called from the front door.

"Oh no." Peter groaned.

"Grandma's really losing her mind." Edmund commented as he walked in.

"My mother is not losing her mind." Mr. Pevensie said.

"She called me George." Edmund pointed out.

"Slip of the tongue."

"Six times?" Edmund said.

"I'm tired." Lucy sighed as she came in behind them.

"Me too." Edmund yawned.

"Peter? Susan?" Mrs. Pevensie called. "Where are you?"

Peter gulped. What was he going to do now? Susan was all moonstruck and they were home a day early. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, He heard running water and the sound of the tub filling up. Why couldn't she just leave the water alone?

"Peter?" Mrs. Pevensie called again. "Susan?"

Well on the bright side, the water might distract Susan from trying to run off to some god-forsaken island in the middle of the night. He went down stairs hoping that Susan wouldn't open the door the second he walked away.

"Hello Mum." Peter said nervously.

"Hi dear, where's Susan?" She asked.

"She ate some bad calms and is going to be in the bathroom all night." Peter came up with quickly.

"Oh poor thing." Mrs. Pevensie said. "I'll go check on her."

"No!" Peter said quickly. "You can't...she's um...moody and doesn't want to be bothered."

"But if she's unwell..." His mum started.

"She's fine." Peter jumped in.

"You just said she wasn't doing well." Mrs. Pevensie seemed confused. "Are you alright? You're acting very strange."

"No, I'm fine...I..." Peter stammered hoping he'd come up with something.

Meanwhile, Edmund was headed to his room and went passed the bathroom on the way. He tripped over a shoe lace that had become untied. "Ow!" He whimpered as he fell flat on his face.

"Ed?" Susan's voice came from inside the bathroom as she heard his voice.

"Su?" Edmund hadn't known she was in there. The light was off.

"Edmund," She said in her distant, moonstruck, giggly voice. "Come in here. There's something I want to show you."

Edmund opened the door and turned on the light. "Su?"

Susan was sitting in the tub, her tail fully formed and hanging over it. She let out a giggle. "Isn't it funny?"

"Funny isn't the word I had in mind." Edmund gasped looking at Susan's tail. "You're a fish!"

"I like my tail." She giggled. "Don't you?"

"It's...nice?" Edmund said still in shock.

"I can swim really fast with it." She said proudly flapping it up and down.

"When did this happen?" Edmund asked.

Susan sighed and giggled again. "Mako Island. I should go there. It's nice."

"Susan, you're acting really weird." Edmund told her. "and it's not just the tail either, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine." She giggled again.

Moments later, Peter came racing up the stairs to find Edmund staring at Susan who was still giggling uncontrollably. "Oh no."

"Did you know about this?" Edmund asked him.

"Sorta." Peter quickly closed the door behind them and locked it so that if anyone else walked by they couldn't get in. "Susan, what are you doing?"

"Sitting in the water." She said simply. "I like my tail."

"Great." Now what was he going to do?

"Peter, what's wrong with her?" Edmund asked.

"She's a little messed up...for some reason she goes a little..um, wacky when she sees the full moon."

"Hee hee." Susan giggled again.

"If she giggles one more time..." Edmund started. He couldn't take this extra giddy version of his sister for one more second.

"It's not her fault Ed." Peter tried to explain. "She can't control it. She probably wont even remember any of this when the moon goes down."

"How do you know?" Edmund asked.

Peter sighed. "Remember that black eye I had? She gave it to me during the last full moon."

"The moon." Susan laughed merrily. "I looked at the moon...hee hee."

"You told me you got that black eye because you banged into the side of your dresser." Edmund gasped.

"Well that might not have been the whole story." Peter said feeling a little guilty. "But look you can't tell anyone about this okay? Not even Lucy."

"Why not?" Susan said. "I like my tail, everyone else will too."

"She's really starting to creep me out." Edmund said.

"Look at this." Susan started waving her hand at the water in the tub around her and a making it take funny shapes. "Look, it's a bird." She giggled.

"Neat!" Edmund said. "Can you do one in the shape of Aslan?"

"Ed!" Peter barked.

"Oh, sorry."

"I like water." Susan giggled.

"She seems fairly harmless this time." Peter told Edmund, "Why don't you just keep an eye on Mum, Father, and Lucy and make sure they don't come in here. I'm going to see if we can get her legs back."

"I don't want my legs." Susan snapped. "I want to keep my tail."

"That can't end well." Edmund sighed as he walked out of the bathroom. He still couldn't believe his sister was a mermaid. It would've been much worse if he hadn't been so used to those sort of creatures in Narnia. It would have really freaked him out.

"Okay Su," Peter said. "Time to get out of the tub." He offered her his hand but she shook her head and refused to take it.

"I like my tail." She said for the millionth time.

"Of course you do...you just don't need it right now." Peter pulled her out of the water and tried to dry her off. It wasn't working. No matter how dry she got, the tail stayed, much to Susan's delight and Peter's horror.

"See, my tail is lovely." Susan said proudly. "I doesn't even want to leave me."

"This is not good." Peter said.

"It's great." Susan sighed. She started giggling again.

"I hate my life." Peter groaned.

"We should try to get to Mako." Susan said. "It's too bad you don't have a tail like mine, we could race there..."

"We're not going anywhere." Peter said firmly. "Mum and father are home and they can't see you like this."

"Why not?" Susan asked. "I-"

"If you say, 'I like my tail' again, I am going to duck tape your mouth shut." Peter growled. He could only put up with so much.

"You're not the boss of me." Susan said waving her hand at the water so it shot out and gave Peter a wetting.

"Su, we've got to do something." Peter said as he spit out the mouthful of water that she'd just whacked him with.

Susan started giggling again. "You don't mind my tail, why should anyone else? You still like me. I'm proud of my tail."

"Su, not everyone is going to be like me." Peter told her. "No one else can see you're tail. End of story."

"Edmund didn't mind." Susan giggled. As the said Edmund walked back into the bathroom.

"Well?" Peter asked him.

"Everyone went to bed."

"Thank the Lion!" Peter exclaimed. "Now we just have to watch her until morning and everything should be fine."

"Who's in there?" Lucy's voice suddenly called from the door. "I have to go."

"Lu, come in, I have something to show you." Susan said before Peter and Edmund could stop her.

Thankfully it was locked. "It's locked." Lucy protested. "I really have to go."

"Go in the bushes." Edmund told her.

"Ed!" Peter snapped.

"Peter? Edmund?" Lucy asked. "What are you doing in there?"

"Nothing." Peter and Edmund said at the same time.

"Let her in." Susan said.

"Shut up." Peter said.

"What?" Lucy's voice came back.

"Not you." Peter groaned. How much worse could this get? He turned to Edmund. "I have an idea." He pointed to the long skirt hanging on one of the racks. It was their mother's and she'd left it there to dry a few days ago. "We put that over Susan's tail, you take one arm, I take the other and we get her to her room."

"Wont it be weird that she wont have feet touching the ground?" Edmund asked.

"You got a better idea?"

"No." Edmund sighed. "I hope this works."

It seemed to be going fine but Susan wouldn't work with them. She flipped her tail back and forth under the skirt as they helped her out the room. Lucy saw it at once.

"She's a mermaid!" Lucy gasped Suddenly the urge to go to the bathroom was gone. "How?"

"Long story, Lu." Peter told her as they helped her into her bedroom.

Lucy followed. "What's wrong with her?"

"Another long story." Peter sighed. "At least she's probably a bit worn out."

Susan let out a yawn as they placed her on her bed.

"Maybe she'll just sleep until it's over." Edmund said hopefully.

"Let's hope so." Peter said.

"Well, I'm beat." Edmund yawned. "Can I go to bed now or do you still need help?"

"I think I can take it from here." Peter told them, "You and Lucy can go to sleep."

"How can we sleep knowing this?" Lucy asked.

"I don't see what else we could do." Edmund yawned again. "I'm about to pass out from being so tired."

Lucy gave in. "Okay."

Peter made sure the windows were locked as tight as they could be. There, he could barely open them now, there was no way a tired Mermaid was going to get out through them.

"I'm going now, See you in the morning." Peter told her.

"Goodbye." Susan said in a sad voice.

"Don't be sad, You'll see me in the morning." Peter laughed in spite of himself.

Susan smiled at him strangely for a moment. She sat up, with some difficulty due to her over-sized fish tail that was of course still fully formed. Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

Peter was stunned. "um, I...well goodnight." He quickly raced out of the room. That did not just happen, he thought to himself. But he knew it had.

The next morning, Susan woke up in her bedroom, her tail long gone and her legs returned. She couldn't remember anything about last night. She remembered going into the kitchen on the way to the bathroom but after that it was all a blank. What she wanted to know was why in the world she was wearing Mum's ugliest skirt. She got up and went down stairs for breakfast.

"Susan!" Lucy and Edmund cried at the same time. "You're alright!"

"Um...yeah, I..." Susan rubbed her forehead. Okay what exactly had happened last night? She looked at Peter who mouthed. "They know."

Things must have gotten out of hand. She wondered if Mum and father knew too.

Peter understood her worry and shook his head.

Okay so only her siblings knew. Well that wasn't as bad as it could've been.

"Are you feeling better?" Her mother asked.

"Much better thank you." Susan told her taking a seat.

"I'm off to work." Their father told them. "See you later."

Their mother gave them each a kiss on the forehead. "I've got to run darlings. I'm meeting a friend to prepare for next week's book club. I'm glad you're feeling better, Su."

"Okay, what happened to me last night?" Susan asked her siblings once she was alone.

"You wouldn't stop giggling." Edmund told her.

"You went on and on about Mako Island, your tail wouldn't go away and you proudly showed it to Edmund and Lucy."

"Why didn't you stop me?" Susan asked Peter.

"I tried but you were very persistent." Peter told her taking a sip of orange juice.

Susan buried her face in her hands and moaned. "I can't believe this."

"I guess you can't ever look at the moon again." Lucy said.

"Just when it full." Peter explained.

Edmund and Lucy got up and cleared the table.

"So you don't remember anything about last night?" Peter asked.

Susan shook her head. "No."

"Nothing at all?" He double checked.

"Nothing." Susan told him. She had the feeling he was keeping something from her. "Okay, what did I do?"

"Nothing." Peter said as he got up. Thank goodness she didn't remember. That would've been very awkward to put it lightly. "Nothing that we didn't already tell you."

Susan couldn't help but think that sounded like a lie.


	6. Not hearing wedding bells

"Guess what?" Mrs. Pevensie said in an overly cheerful voice that made her sound like she was a bad actress pretending to win a million pounds on a game show.

Peter didn't like that voice. It usually meant she was going to make him do something that was 'for his own good' that he didn't want to do. "What mum?"

"Your grandmother knows a girl that she thinks would be perfect for you." His mother said with that overly-happy smile still on her face.

"Grandma Pevensie set me up on a blind date?" He thought he was going to be sick. He looked over at Edmund who was laughing into the palm of his hand as he listened to this. "Are you sure she meant me and not 'George' over there?"

"Of course she meant you, silly." His mother laughed pouring herself a cup of tea as she spoke. "She's a lovely girl, very sweet, just give her a chance okay?"

More than anything he wanted to say no. But his mother seemed so happy at the notion of him going on a date with his new grandma-approved girlfriend that he sighed and said, "Alright."

"Great." His mother beamed. "We'll invite her over for dinner tomorrow night so you two can get to know each other better."

As Peter walked up the stairs to his room, he head an annoying teasing-brother voice behind him. "Peter's got a girlfriend, Peter's got a girlfriend."

"Oh shut up." He turned to glare at his brother. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Besides guess who Grandma Pevensie will be setting up next?"

"Me?" Edmund's face turned green with disgust at that thought.

Peter put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "By George, I think you've got it."

Edmund let out a slight whimper.

At the top of the stairs, Lucy and Susan were in the middle of a conversation, which Edmund had no problem interrupting.

"Did you hear?" Edmund asked with a gleam of mischief in his eyes. "We're meeting Peter's future wife tomorrow."

"Ed!" Peter shouted. "I am not going to marry her, It's one stupid date!"

"Dum, dum, da dum, dum." Edmund started humming the wedding march.

"That does it!" Peter took off after his brother as fast as he could.

Edmund let out a yelp and ran for the other side of the house, Peter close behind him.

"What was that all about?" Susan wondered.

Lucy shrugged. "Boys are weird."

"So Peter's got a date tomorrow?" Susan asked Lucy. "Who would date him?"

"It's a blind date!" Edmund said running pass them again with Peter still chasing him.

"She can't see?" Lucy asked, her nose wrinkling up in confusion.

"No, Lucy, a blind date means they've never met before." Susan explained as Peter tackled Edmund and got him in a head lock.

"Get off me!" Edmund protested.

"If I kill my brother, would it be murder or charity?" Peter pondered out loud.

"But then your children wouldn't have a cool uncle like me." Edmund pointed out.

"Oh definitely charity." Peter decided as he let Edmund up.

Edmund brushed himself off, stuck his tongue out at his brother, and then raced into his room locking the door behind him.

"So what's all this about a blind date?" Susan asked while Lucy was in a fit of laughter over the fight she'd just witnessed.

"Oh, Grandma Pevensie knows some girl she thinks I would like." Peter said causally.

"Hey isn't this your first date?" Lucy asked him.

"No..." Peter didn't want to admit his first date was with someone his grandmother picked. "There was um...and uh...um..."

"Um and uh?" Susan teased. "Whatever happened to those girls? I liked them."

"Oh very funny, Su." Peter said.

"So when do we meet her?" Lucy asked him.

"Tomorrow night." Peter told her. "She's having dinner with us."

"You got a ring yet, Pete?" Edmund opened his bedroom door a crack. "I hear girls now-a-days like big diamonds not small ones."

"Shut up!" Peter barked at him.

The next evening Mrs. Pevensie was making enough food to fill a small army.

"Hmm, fish." Edmund said as he smelled his mother's cooking in the air.

"Whatever you do, Edmund." His mother told him firmly. "Do not, I repeat, do not, do any of your 'See food' jokes."

"Aw, Mum!" Edmund pretended to be disappointed. "You mean I can't tell her that Peter's on a sea food diet?"

"What sea food diet?" Mrs. Pevensie looked confused.

"You know, he sees food, then he eats it." Edmund joked.

Mrs. Pevensie rolled her eyes. "You are a piece of work."

ding dong. The doorbell rang. It must be Peter's date. Edmund opened the door.

A tall, slim blond girl with overly perfect finger nails stood there. "Hi there." She cooed as though he was a four year old. "You must be George, your grandmother has told me all about you."

"My name is Edmund!" Edmund growled.

The girl didn't stop smiling. "My name is Mary. Where's your brother?"

It took all Edmund had not to say, "Hopefully avoiding you if he has any sense."

Lucy came up to the door with a polite little smile on her face. "Hello, I'm Lucy."

"Oh, aren't you just the cutest little girl." Mary said in a high pitched baby-talk voice as she bent down to pinch Lucy's cheek.

"Ow." Lucy rubbed her face and glared at Mary she already was annoyed with her.

Peter came a few seconds later. "Oh, Hello, you must be Mary, I'm Peter." He reached out his hand and she shook it a little too hard.

"Oh my gosh," She gushed. "It's so great to finally meet you."

"You too?" Peter noticed she was still shaking his hand up and down. Was she ever going to stop? Would it be rude if he pulled his hand away? Even if it wasn't rude, he'd probably need a crow bar to do so as she had a grip like a pit bull. Finally she let go. And Peter nearly cried with relief.

Susan entered the room and noticed with a strange disappointment she couldn't quick understand, that Mary was pretty. She hadn't realized it until now but she'd been wishing she'd be a homely loser that she's never have to see again after that night.

"Hello, who are you?" Mary asked her.

"Susan." Susan told her. "Peter's sister."

"Oh my, you two really look alike." Mary lied trying to make conversation. "Are you twins?"

"Um, no." Susan said in a cross voice. How could they look alike? They didn't even have the same parents! "Peter's older than me."

"Oh." Mary shrugged indifferently.

"Susan darling, tell our guest that dinner is ready." Her mother's voice called from the kitchen.

Moments later, Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie, Peter, Edmund, Susan, Lucy and Mary were all sitting at the table.

Edmund sat next to Lucy who sat next to Susan. Across from them, Mary sat next to Peter who sat next to Mr. Pevensie.

In the middle of dinner Mary let out the fakest fake gasp in the history of the world. "Peter, you've got something gross stuck in your hair."

Susan glared at her furiously. There was nothing in his hair.

"Here let me get it out for you." Mary laughed pretending to take something out of his hair.

Oh very smooth, Mary. Susan thought as Mary ran her fingers through Peter's hair. Where'd you learn that? Floozy school?

Mary smiled coyly and grabbed her glass of water about to take a sip.

With out thinking Susan causally raised her palm, Freezing the water as Mary took a sip of it.

"OW!" muttered Mary as she tried to get her lips free from the ice they were suddenly stuck in.

Edmund burst out laughing and pretended to be blowing his nose with a napkin. Lucy dropped her fork on purpose so she could laugh under the table.

Susan couldn't help but feel a little pleased with herself. That was until Peter's eyes focused on her. Her parents and Mary might not know what happened but he did. He knew what she could do with her powers. Susan blushed feeling ashamed of herself now.

Mary was still struggling with the glass. Susan used her hand to boil the water a little so she could get free. But Mary's lips were still horribly swollen.

Edmund laughed when he saw them and forgot about his napkin much to his mother's disapproval. Lucy suppressed her laugh with a goofy-looking smile.

After dinner, Mary's lips were a little less swollen and everyone went into the living room.

"Susan?" Mrs. Pevensie asked. "Would you start on the dishes?"

Peter cut in out of habit. "I'll take care of them, Mum."

"You have a guest, Peter." Mrs. Pevensie reminded him. "You can't."

Edmund shrugged. "I'll do it."

"What you'll do young man is clean your room." Mr. Pevensie told him. "It looks and smells like something died in there."

Lucy offered. "I can do it."

"That's nice dear but I don't want to you break my best china." Mrs. Pevensie explained.

"I wouldn't!" Lucy protested.

"I know dear, you wouldn't mean to but I'd rather have one of the older kids do it."

"I'll do it later, Mum." Peter insisted.

"I don't see why Susan can't do it now before the fish sauce stains the china." Mrs. Pevensie said firmly.

"Where are the gloves Mum?" Susan asked looking for the washing gloves.

"We're out of them dear, you don't need gloves anyway." She answered.

Susan gulped. What was she going to do now? Not seeing anyway out of it she touched the dish water. Thankfully no one would see her turn into a mermaid because they were in the other room. But once she turned into a mermaid on the kitchen floor, how was she going to do the dishes? She gulped and turned on the faucet. A drop of water bounced off the gold rim of one of the china plates and hit Susan's finger. And just like that, she felt to the floor.

From the other room, Peter heard the flop of a fish tail hitting the floor. He excused himself (Much to Mary's and his mother's disappointment) and ran into the kitchen.

"Little help?" Susan asked trying in vain to wiggle her way of the kitchen like a giant snake.

"Here." He handed her a towel from the rack she couldn't reach. She wiped the water drop off herself and her legs returned.

Peter helped her up. "Why don't you go upstairs, Su?" He looked back at the dirty china. "I'll take care of this."

"Mum said-" Susan started.

"I know what Mum said." He snapped. "I'm saying go upstairs and let me take care of it."

He seemed angry. Susan wondered if he was mad at her for what she'd done to Mary earlier. "Fine!' Susan started for the stairs.

So she'd frozen Mary's drinking water, it wasn't the end of the world. "Thank you!" She barked back in a ticked-off voice.

"You're welcome!" He shouted back. Then to himself he muttered, "By the lion's mane, what am I going to do with her?"

After figuring out that her date was ignoring her in the kitchen doing dishes, Mary stormed out declaring that it was the worse date of her life.

"Good riddance." Edmund muttered as he came out of his room to see her leaving.

"Edmund!" His father scolded.

Lucy didn't say anything but she felt relived too. She hated it when people pinched her cheek. She didn't even let her aunts and grandparents do that.

Peter didn't even notice she was gone, after he finished the dishes, he went to apologize to Susan. "I'm sorry I yelled at you back there." He said, opening her bedroom door a crack.

"I'm sorry I ruined your date." Susan told him.

"Don't worry about it." Peter shook his head. "I didn't like her anyway. That's not what I was upset about."

It wasn't? "Then why did you snap at me like that?" Susan wanted to know.

"I was worried about you." Peter explained. "What if something had gone wrong when you did that and she figured out that you were a mermaid? Then what? What if she told someone?"

Susan knew he cared, but she didn't know he'd cared that much. "That's what you were upset about?"

"Of course it was." He said coming all the way into the room and shutting the door behind him. "What did you think I was mad about?"

"The fact that I turned her drinking water into a block of ice?" Susan shrugged.

"Oh who cares about that?" He laughed a little. Then he stopped and looked at her. "Why did you do it anyway?"

Susan wasn't sure. "I don't know...I just got mad at her and..."

"Why were you mad at her?" Peter asked.

"I don't know I was..." Susan wasn't about to admit she was jealous of her. It was too weird. "...hey where is she anyway? Did she leave?"

"I don't know." Peter didn't care either way.

"What's Grandma Pevensie going to say?" Susan changed the subject.

"I don't know maybe she'll set her up with George." Peter joked.

Susan chuckled at that. "So what do we do now?"

"I'm going to bed." He said. "I'm beat." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the room.

"Goodnight." She called after him.

"Goodnight." He called back.

When he got to his room, Edmund was waiting for him. "So I guess the engagement's off?" He teased.

Peter tried not to laugh. What the heck? He let it out.


	7. Did you know the little mermaid died?

As Susan sat in the living room watching Peter play cards with Lucy, a new realization dawned on her. She noticed that despite promising Peter (And herself for that matter) that she wouldn't think any differently of him because he was adopted, she did see him differently now. She'd always known he was kind and good with kids but now she found herself really noticing that. Really noticing that she liked the way he talked to her. That he never forgot to say goodnight. That they fought but never stayed mad for long. That they were actually compatible. She didn't know when it had happened, she just knew it had happened, She didn't see him as just a brother anymore.

He noticed Susan looking at him and turned to smile at her before shuffling the cards to start the next game. Lucy wanted to try to win one now. She was getting better but she had lost three games already that night. Edmund might have teased her for that but he wasn't home. He was sleeping over a friend's house. Their parents weren't home either. They'd gone out to some fancy supper with their friends.

Peter could vaguely remember his birth parents going out to dinner, though anyone would say he was too little do remember such things. But he did. He had a dim memory of them leaving without even saying goodbye. All he remembered of his mother was a sharp voice saying. "Will you please keep that child from howling so? It hurts my ears." He shook his head, he didn't want to remember that. He wished he didn't. But he was safe now, As Peter Pevensie. Peter Burke didn't exist anymore. Peter Burke had disappeared the moment Helen Pevensie signed the adoption papers and took him home.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked noticing that Peter looking sort of sad.

"Yes." Peter said. "I'm fine." He handed her the cards she needed for the game.

Susan wondered if Peter remembered anything about being a Burke. Of course he had to be too little for that. Yet something about the way he shifted when she'd brought up the subject that one time suggested some memory. And not happy ones either. She wondered, but she wouldn't bring it up. She'd promised.

"I won." Lucy declared happily at the end of the game. Then she looked suspiciously at Peter. "Did you let me win?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Susan laughed, speaking for the first time in an hour. "He used to let me win at Chess."

"I did no such thing." Peter insisted.

"Sure you didn't, and a pawn can move the same way as a queen?" Susan pointed out.

"You were little." Peter defended himself. "I didn't want you to feel bad about losing all the time."

"I wasn't that much littler than you." Susan said.

"At least a couple of years Su." Peter reminded her.

"Peter," Lucy asked suddenly. "Why doesn't mum have your birth certificate?"

"Of course she does." Peter lied. "Why wouldn't she?"

Lucy shrugged. "I was looking through a box of all our baby things the other day and everyone's birth certificate was in there except yours."

"Mum must have misplaced it, Lucy." Susan said quickly.

Peter nodded. "Yeah, must have been that."

"Mum never misplaces things." Lucy was smarter than they gave her credit for sometimes.

"Well I guess this one time she did." Susan said firmly.

"Oh, alright then." Lucy gave in, wondering why her older siblings seemed so tense. Maybe changing the subject would help. "Is Jacob Burke a distant uncle or something?"

Peter looked very nervous. "What do you know about him?"

"I found a letter from him the other day when Edmund was cleaning out the credenza." Lucy shrugged. She didn't understand what was going on. She would have never dreamed in a million years that Jacob Burke was Peter's father.

"What did it say?" Susan asked.

"It doesn't matter." Peter said sharply.

"Why not?" Lucy wanted to know.

"It just doesn't." Peter looked very upset now. "I think it's time you went to bed Lucy."

Lucy sighed and went up to her room.

"You don't even want to know what was in the letter?" Susan whispered to him.

"No." Peter shook his head. "I don't care."

"I think you do." Susan said noticing the look on his face. He wanted to know. He was only fighting it because he didn't want to want to know. He wanted not to think about them ever again.

"I don't care." Peter insisted. He lowered his voice. "They aren't my parents anymore. They never loved me."

"I know but maybe the letter..." Susan insisted.

"Drop it, Su." Peter said.

"But Peter..." Susan tried again.

He glared at her. "I said, drop it."

"Fine." Susan dropped it at last. He clearly wasn't ready to handle that.

Later that night Susan decided that she would tell Peter how she felt. It was sort of a secret and she'd promised to tell him everything. The logical side of her brain was shouting, "Tell him everything doesn't mean tell him ever weird thought that crosses your mind. Don't tell him that. You'll regret it later." She ignored that nagging voice. She was going to tell him. Tell him that she cared about him as more than a brother. That voice would just have to deal. End of story. She hoped it wouldn't creep him out too much. She would've put off telling him but there wasn't a better time that she could see. Lucy was asleep. And no one else was home. She certainly wasn't going to tell him that she was in love with him in front of Edmund or her parents or an awake Lucy. Now that would be sheer stupidity.

She could see it now. Her mothers confused expression. Her father calling a psychiatrist. Edmund looking utterly disgusted. Lucy frowning her brows in confusion. No way Susan was going to deal with any of that. Better to just tell Peter when he was by himself.

Peter was sitting at the table reading something.

"What are you reading?" Susan asked trying to calm her nerves a bit.

"Something unbelievably dull." Peter laughed, clearly in a better mood now than he was earlier. He snapped the book shut.

"Why do we even have that book?" Susan asked. "It put me right to sleep and I've been known to read straight from the dictionary for hours without a problem."

"I don't know." Peter agreed. "I think it was a wedding gift to our parents from Aunt Alberta."

"Figures." Susan muttered. "It was probably a re-gift too knowing them."

Peter laughed again. "Probably."

"I have to tell you something." Susan said. It was the moment of truth. She took a seat next to him.

"What's on your mind?" Peter noticed she looked uncomfortable and wondered what was wrong.

"Promise not to think I'm...well...a creep?" Susan asked starting to wonder if she should back out now.

"You are not a creep." Peter assured her. "What's wrong?"

"Well nothing's wrong...per say..." Susan tried to start. What if he didn't feel the same way and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "Ew!"? Was she going to be able to handle that? What if he didn't want to hang out with her anymore after he knew?

Peter looked concerned now. "What is it?"

"I..." Susan tried again. By the Lion! why was this so hard? "I love you." There she'd said it. Finally. Why had he just let her blab on like an idiot all that time?

"I love you too?" Peter looked confused. Why on earth would it be so hard for her to say that?

Oh well that was just great, he didn't understand. Now she had to repeat herself. Ugh. Maybe she should just run upstairs now. No, she had to finish want she'd started even if it was awkward. "No, I mean, I'm in love with you." Susan could feel her cheeks turning red. Thinking, I did not just say that.

But from the look on Peter's face she knew she had. "Uh..." He looked very surprised. Clearly he hadn't seen this coming.

"You don't have to say anything." She told him. "I just wanted you to know."

"No, I do have to say something." Susan couldn't help but notice he sounded kind of sad now. "I'm sorry, Su. I don't feel the same way." he said it as kindly as possible but it still hurt. "I do love you but like a sister."

"Well at least now I know." Susan said softly. She started to get up from her seat and tried to hide her disappointment. "Is there anyway we could pretend this conversation never took place?"

Peter nodded. "Sure. No problem. Never happened."

"Thanks." She looked a little relieved as she walk away but there was still several traces of disappointment in that relief.

Peter felt rotten. He'd lied to her. He'd had to of course. But he felt horrible about it. The reason was because he couldn't feel that way about her and still be Peter Pevensie. Peter Pevensie was Susan Pevensie's big brother that was it. Peter Burke could be something else but as far as he was concerned, Peter Burke didn't exist. So he'd told her he didn't feel the same way. But he did. He sighed and looked out the kitchen window, hoping the feeling would pass but knowing it wouldn't.

Susan sat in her room quietly. It hadn't gone too badly she'd told herself. He was nice about it. And he knew how she felt now. That was good wasn't it? No, it really wasn't.

At that moment she heard a knock at the door. "Susan?" It was Lucy.

"What are you doing up Lucy?" Susan asked surprised.

"I couldn't sleep." Lucy explained. "Say Su, did you know how nasty the original fairy-tales were?"

Susan did know thanks to Edmund's blood-and-gore phase. He used to read the gross parts out loud until Peter made him stop. But Lucy had been too little to remember that.

Lucy explained that she was reading from one of Edmund's books. They certainly weren't the kiddie versions of Fairytales.

"You'll get nightmares, Lu." Susan warned her.

"I didn't know they were that bad." Lucy looked surprised. "Did you know that the little mermaid doesn't live happily ever after?"

"Um no?" Now that Susan hadn't known. "What happened to her?"

"Well," Lucy started trying to remember exactly what had happened. "She fell in love with this prince who really cared about her but only in a father/child, brother/sister way and then,"

"Did she ever tell him how she felt?" Susan said before she could stop herself.

"No, the sea witch had cut out her tongue." Lucy explained looking kind of sick at the thought of someone getting their tongue cut out. "She couldn't talk."

Some mermaids have all the luck, Susan thought grumpily.

"Anyway," Lucy went on. "She and the prince were really close friends for a while. He even let her sleep outside his doorway at night so that they were never far apart."

"Did they stay friends for ever?" Susan asked. That would be good. 'Friends' was very good.

"Not exactly." Lucy admitted. "He married someone else and the mermaid died the morning after."

"Great." Susan moaned. Lots to look forward to.

"I think I heard Dad, pull into the drive." Lucy said, forgetting what they were talking about.

"You'd better go to bed Lucy, before they see you're still up." Susan told her.

Lucy did so and Susan was left alone to think about 'The Little Mermaid Who Couldn't.'


	8. The Tail of Susan's first job

"Now, children remember, this is a store," Mrs. Pevensie said shortly as she, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy entered the department store. "Not a play ground." she shot her youngest son a look that meant 'stay out of trouble or else'.

"Mum, I an not a little kid anymore, I am very mature." Edmund said looking very insulted. As he spoke, he banged into an underwear display. "Pants!" He cried out.

Mrs. Pevensie rolled her eyes. "Okay dears, have fun and don't bother your sister. I'll come back for you in a few hours."

Susan had gotten her first job. It was a part time job at the 'We Sell Stuff, You Buy Stuff." department store. She was a little nervous about it but everyone insisted she'd do just fine. Lucy said she knew more about clothes than the full time workers. Edmund said she was smart enough to make a living. And Peter said it sounded like a good idea. Her parents seemed fairly happy about the whole thing, so she'd taken the job.

Suddenly she heard a cry of a familiar boy's voice saying something about underpants. She noticed her siblings standing at the front of the store.

Susan sighed and went back to folding some sweaters and putting them on a display stand. Her siblings wouldn't bother her. Probably.

Lucy went over to look at a dress that reminded her of a Narnian gown. "Oh!" She gasped walking over to the rust-red dress and stroking it's fabric. Not quite Narnian, but still very nice.

Edmund glanced over to his right where a tall pretty blond girl was trying on hats in the mirror. She wore a one-of-a-kind silver locket with a little red gem stone in on it around her neck.

She noticed him looking at her. "Which one do you think looks better?" She asked, holding up two different colored hats.

"Um...the brown one?" Edmund offered.

The girl looked down at the brown hat. "Maybe." She turned and smiled at Edmund. "I'm Julia Dove."

"Edmund Pevensie." He told her. He reached out to shake her hand.

"Julia, we have to go!" A voice from the front of the store called. "Now!"

"Sorry." She gave him an apologetic smile. "It was nice meeting you, Edmund."

"Same here." Edmund said back, trying not to blush.

Susan was still folding shirts when Peter came over to talk to her.

"So how's the job going?" He said in a half-joking voice.

Susan shrugged. "People come, people look, some people buy, other's are so cheap it's scary...nothing great."

"Ah." Peter nodded. "When do you get off again?"

"Three hours from now." Susan told him.

"Good, then you can get a ride home with us and Mum." He told her.

"Sounds good." Susan said as she dropped a skirt on the floor and bent down to pick it up.

"Susan!" A boy with a nasal sounding voice called as he entered the store.

"Oh no!" Susan whimpered.

"Who is that?" Peter asked sensing his sister's panic.

"Jake." Susan moaned. "He's the most despicable pig I've ever met in my life. He's always trying to flirt with me."

"Why don't you tell him to leave you alone?" Peter asked.

"I did." Susan groaned. "He didn't listen. Once at a party when he'd clearly been drinking way too much he tried to put his hand on my butt."

"He did what?" Peter's eyes darkened with anger. He was going to kill him.

Susan reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver ring, slipping it onto her ring finger. She always had her ring handy in case she ran into Jake. "If he asks, your name is Ronald and we're engaged, got it?"

"What?" Peter looked confused.

"I told him I was engaged to someone named Ronald." Susan explained. "It seems to be working, the little creep hasn't been bothering me as much lately."

"Why do I have to be Ronald?" Peter asked.

"It's you or that boy who's always bothering me at the subway station." Susan said. "He can't get a date, and someone's going to believe that he's engaged? Even Jake's not that stupid."

"You could've at least warned me." Peter protested. "And doesn't he know I'm your brother?"

"I didn't know he was going to be here." Susan reminded him. "And Jake can't even remember my last name, he's not going to know who you are."

"Alright, fine." Peter gave in. "I'm Ronald."

"Hello Jake." Susan said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Looking as lovely as ever, Susan." Jake said.

"Thank you." She took a step closer to Peter.

"So is this, Ronald?" Jake asked looking rather jealous.

"Yes, I'm Ronald." Peter lied. He glared at Jake. If that little weasel didn't leave Susan alone there was going to be a slap fight right there in the store.

"You're a lucky man." Jake told him. "I can't believe you asked her to marry you using sky writing."

Peter turned to Susan and raised an eyebrow. "Sky writing?" He mouthed.

"Well..." Susan didn't know what to say to that.

"Anyway, when's the wedding?" Jake asked.

"Five years." Peter randomly came up with.

"How that's a long time." Jake said with fake concern. "What if you two don't last that long."

"We will." Susan insisted.

"Yeah, we're really close." Peter told him. Well at least that part was true.

Jake wasn't backing off. Peter had an idea. It wasn't a good one but it would have to do. He put his arm around Susan and shot Jake another phony smile.

"Bye Susan." Jake said finally leaving.

"Bye." Susan waved. Then to Peter she mouthed. "I hate him."

"I can see why." He let go of her as soon as Jake was out of sight.

"And you didn't even have to listen to him singing outside your doom room window." Susan pointed out.

"He sings outside your window at school?" Peter asked.

"Very off-key I might add." Susan said.

Suddenly a little boy with a squirt gun ran into the store. Susan gulped. Please don't let him squirt me with that thing.

The little boy's mother asked Susan about the sales. Susan calmly and slowly explained which items were half off and which were not. She relaxed when it seemed that the little boy wasn't going to actually fire water at her.

Suddenly though, a friend of the little boy's ran by going, "Can't catch me, can't catch me." The boy aimed it at his friend but missed him and hit Susan by mistake. Peter noticed and ran over to her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into one of the dressing rooms. Then he shut the door behind them, just as her tail appeared and she fell to the ground.

"Oh no." Susan said. "I'm a fish on my first day at my first job."

"It's alright, Su." Peter said. "You'll be fine. Just use your powers to dry off."

Susan clenched her fist and waved it over her tail trying to boil up the water that had caused it to form. A smoky mist of steam filled the air. Some of it went out the crack of the door.

The woman Susan had just been talking to saw it. "Fire!" She screamed. "There's a fire in the dressing room over there!"

"I'll put it out Mummy." Her son declared bravely. he raised the water gun so it would shoot over the top of the door. Susan had just gotten dry and her legs returned when the water came over the top hitting her on the head and her tail re-appeared.

"I hate my life." Susan moaned. "Now what are we going to do? I'm soaking wet and I can't dry off or else they'll think it's another fire."

"I have an idea." Peter said he walked out of the dressing room and grabbed a rolling clothing rack with really long skirts on it. He wheeled it into the dressing room. "Get in on the bottom, Su."

Susan sighed and climbed on pulling her tail behind her. She completely hid herself under the skirts and Peter wheeled the rack out.

"Young man, slow down." An old woman said. "I want to take a look at one of those skirts."

"No you don't." Peter said

"Yes I do." The woman tried to grab a skirt off the rack. If she moved it, Susan's tail would flop out. Peter wheeled the rack faster.

"Young man, wait." The old woman protested loudly. "I must have that skirt!"

Oh no. Now what was he going to do? The woman (who could run surprisingly fast for her age) ran over and yanked the skirt off the rack.

Peter cringed expecting to see Susan's tail any second. But he didn't. He looked under the rack. She wasn't there! Where was she?

"Peter!" Susan's whisper-shouted from under another clothes rack she had managed to climb into.

Peter grabbed a towel off of a nearby display and tossed it to Susan. Susan's hand reached out and grabbed it and she dried off. She climbed out of the rack her legs back and her tail gone.

The old woman walked by after buying the skirt. She was talking with her husband who'd just shown up. "I had to chase down a man to get this!"

"Young whiper-snappers now-a-days have no respect!" He agreed, shaking his cane in anger.

Susan and Peter smiled at each other. "Come on Su, I think I hear mum calling us."

"So, how was the first day at work?" Mrs. Pevensie asked Susan as she drove them all home.

"It was really something." Susan said glancing at Peter.

"Yes very...exciting." Peter laughed.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun, Susan." Her mother said. Then she asked Edmund and Lucy about their day.

"Edmund talked to a girl." Lucy said.

"Really?" Peter teased. "So Grandma Pevensie doesn't have to set you up with Mary's little sister after all, George?"

"Oh shut up." Edmund said.


	9. A cinderella twist in the tail

"Why can't I come?" Edmund asked for the hundredth time that night.

"You weren't invited." Peter reminded him.

"But I'm more fun that you." Edmund protested. "You don't even know how to party."

"That's not true, Ed." Peter said. "Remember all those balls in Narnia?"

"You mean the ones where you stood on the side and glared at Susan and Lucy's suitors?" Edmund raised an eyebrow.

"I did that one time!" Peter protested, he knew exactly what ball Edmund was referring to. "Lucy was only thirteen!"

"Okay, I can see why that might upset you, but what about Susan?" Edmund asked, clearly being cheeky to get back at Peter for not letting him come with him. Not knowing Peter's secret he didn't realize what he was implying.

Peter looked a little uncomfortable. He wasn't going to tell Edmund the real reason. That would be utterly insane. "Um...I didn't...er...like him..."

"Pete, the man was practically a saint." Edmund reminded him.

"Was not." Peter retorted.

"The man saved puppies and kittens from burning towers daily!" Edmund said.

Peter didn't care about that. He could've saved those same animals himself if those darn royal counsel meetings didn't last so dang long! "It doesn't matter Ed, you're not coming, end of story."

"But what are you going to do as a masked ball?" Edmund asked, still ticked off. "I seem to recall a certain Narnian king saying, and I quote, 'Wearing masks at parties is stupid, why can't people just be themselves?' end quote."

A friend of a friend of one of Peter's friends was throwing a masked ball type party. He'd gotten permission to go but rumor had it was going to be a somewhat rough crowd. Nothing he couldn't handle but not something he was going to let his siblings attend. If he let Edmund come, Lucy would want to. Then Susan would feel left out and then he'd be stuck with all three of them. Aslan forbid, Lucy actually talked to people at this party. Some of them didn't have the best use of words if you know what I mean. No way he was bringing any of them with him. He was only going because his friend had literally fallen down at his feet and begged him to come. No joke.

"Where's your mask?" Lucy asked as she walked into the room and realized Peter wasn't wearing one.

"I said that I'd go to the party not that I'd cover my face like a monk." Peter grumped.

"But don't you have to wear one?" Lucy asked. Wasn't that kind of the point?

"Not really." Peter shrugged.

"He wants all the ladies to see his face." Edmund teased.

"I do not!" Peter said.

"Do so." Edmund shot back. "And that's why you wont let us come right? Worried we'll embarrass you in front of all the girls."

"You know perfectly well, that is not the reason." Peter said getting more annoyed by the second. Was Edmund ever going to shut up?

"So is Mary meeting you there?" Edmund teased.

"Heck, no!" Peter said firmly. If Mary was there he was going to run out of that party as fast as his legs would take him. She was the most annoying brat he'd ever met in his life. (Though at the moment, Edmund was running a close second).

"Hey what's with all the shouting?" Susan walked in.

"Peter's not letting us come." Edmund sulked.

"Ed, you've known for three days we weren't going." Susan rolled her eyes.

Edmund pouted. "Fine. Go ahead." He sighed. "Leave your poor little brother home to baby sit Lucy, while you have all the fun."

"I don't need a baby sitter." Lucy cut in.

"I'll be back in a few hours." Peter told them as he turned to leave. "See you then."

Lucy yawned. "I'll be in my room." She told them.

Edmund gave Susan a smile which usually meant he had a plan. Most of the time, it ended in them all getting grounded.

"What are you thinking, Ed?" Susan asked cautiously.

"I'm thinking we go to that party." Edmund said. "I mean, Peter doesn't have to find out, Lucy's in her room. We know where it is..."

"No way." Susan told him.

"Oh come on, Su." Edmund begged. "It'll be lot's of fun. Wouldn't you rather have fun dancing than sit here playing 'go fish'?"

"As long as I don't turn into one, sure." Susan shrugged.

"But Susan, think about it, how many parties have you been to since the..." He lowered his voice. "Tail thing first started?"

Susan had to admit he had a point. She hadn't been having a lot of fun lately. The only parties she'd gone to were her parents boring cocktail ones while all the moronic woman with loser sons tried to set her up. Maybe just this once, she could live a little. "But I have nothing to wear."

"Leave that to, your fairy god brother." Edmund said with a smile. he went downstairs to the kitchen, and called someone on the phone. "Hey, it's Edmund, yeah, about that favor you owe me..."

Less than twenty-five minutes later, one of Edmund's friends arrived at the door and thrust a bundle into Edmund's arms before taking off faster than the wind.

In the bundle was a suitable dress. It was delightful to wear a ball gown again even if it wasn't as nice as the Narnian ones. It was a long dark red gown with long lacy sleeves. There was also a matching red-and-white mask. Susan had to wear her own shoes because none had come with the clothes.

Edmund wore one of his suits and a black mask that sort of matched it.

"Let's go tot he ball." Edmund said proudly.

"Just one question." Susan said as they climbed out the window. "What if mum does her nightly check up on us and sees we're not home?"

"Ah, don't worry, little brother has that all figured out." Edmund said. "She never does that before midnight, when she gets up to get a glass of water. So if we're back home before that, we wont get caught."

"Alright then." Susan said, closing the window behind them but being sure not to lock it.

Meanwhile at the party, Peter watched as a young nerdy boy got thrown out by a large bouncer. He tired to figure out where he'd seen him before. Then he remembered, oh yes, that was right, he was the same boy that always called Susan, 'Phyllis'. Poor guy.

"I had glasses." The boy called. Someone threw them out after him. "Thank you!" he shouted back.

Peter looked around the party. It was dark and everyone was wearing masks except him, and a group of people who were standing to the side looking a little tipsy. Why on earth had he let his friend talk him into coming?

"Hello mate!" one of his friends came up to him and waved.

"Have you been drinking?" Peter asked.

"No." His friend said hiding his beer behind his back.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Peter held up two fingers.

"Um four?" his friend guessed, squinting very hard.

"Give me that!" Peter took the beer away from him.

"Peter Pevensie!" an older woman who was a friend of his mother's came by. "Drinking under age?" She looked down at the beer in his hand. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"But it wasn't me!" Peter protested. he needed to find himself some new friends. These were getting him into too much trouble.

"The first step is admitting you have a problem." The woman said. "Now I have a headache and I'm going home."

"Yay!" Someone shouted after she left. "The chaperone is gone!"

"Yay!" some other people cheered.

"That was the only chaperone?" Peter asked his friend.

"I don't know the capital of America." his friend slurred before vomiting on the floor in front of him.

It was around this time that Susan and Edmund arrived. "This place is too cool." Edmund said looking around. "I can't believe we almost missed this."

"It does look like fun." Susan admitted.

Edmund looked over at the dessert table. "I think I hear a cookie calling my name." he raced over there.

Susan wondered what she was going to do now. She hadn't thought passed getting there. Who was she going to talk to? She couldn't talk to Peter or he'd know she snuck out.

At dessert table, Edmund reached over to grab a cookie. Another person next to him reached for the same one. They banged hands by mistake.

"Sorry." It was a girl's voice.

"No, it was my fault." Edmund took off his mask for a moment because it was shifting the wrong way.

"Edmund?" The girl gasped. She took of her own mask.

"Julia!" It was the nice girl from the department store "What are you doing here?"

"The nice bouncer let me in." Julia explained.

Of course the bouncer let her in, pretty people could get in just about anywhere. That's why Susan got in and Edmund was able to tag along with her.

"Do you want to dance?" Edmund asked.

"Sure." she answered.

on the other side of the room, Peter was talking to the only two sober friends of his at the party while the tipsy ones puked in the bathroom.

"Ask someone to dance." One of his friends told him.

"No." Peter said. He didn't know or like any of the girls there.

"Come on." They begged him. "have a little fun."

"I am having fun." Peter lied. He was actually hoping the police would come and shut the party down.

"Okay ask a girl to dance or..." One of his friends pointed to a circle of chairs where some guy was chugging a huge barrel of beer while ten other boys egged him on. "You'll be the next chugger."

Peter glared at them. "Knock it off."

"What about her?" one of them pointed to a masked girl in a red gown who'd just arrived. "Why don't you ask her to dance? She's pretty."

"If I ask her to dance will you leave me alone?" Peter asked.

They all nodded.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes. Let's get this over with. He had no way of knowing that the girl he was about to ask to dance was Susan.

"Excuse me." He said softly.

Susan turned around and gulped. Oh, no. Busted.

He didn't recognize her because it was dark and the mask covered about half of her face. He did think she looked familiar but in the dark foul-smelling party room he couldn't place her. His buddies were watching him as if he was an action film and something was about to blow up.

"Would you like to dance?" Peter asked her.

Phew! Susan thought, he didn't recognize her. She was about to shake her head no. If they danced, he might figure out who she was. But then another girl came up behind them.

"Hey do you want to dance?" The girl asked Peter.

He asked me first. Susan thought bitterly. Peter barely noticed the other girl. "Yeah, with her." He shrugged. "Sorry."

The other girl turned up her nose and stormed off.

Susan couldn't say no now. She nodded yes (She was worried her voice might tip him off to who she was). They went to the dance floor.

"You're pretty good." Peter noticed that she didn't miss a step during the dance. "Where did you learn?"

Of course she'd learned in Narnia, same place as him, but she wasn't going to admit that. She tried to make her voice high-pitched so it didn't sound too much like her. "Oh, I just watch a lot of dancing...you know at other parties."

"Sure." He squinted at her. He had the feeling he knew her from somewhere. but where? This was going to drive him mad. "Do I know you?" He asked.

"I don't think so." Susan said quickly. "I look a lot like other people. Lot's of people even say I look like their siblings...I don't know why...I guess I just look very common...hee hee." She added a nervous laugh at the end.

Peter had heard a laugh like that once before...The night Susan was moonstruck...what were the odds that this girl had the same weird laugh only higher pitched?

As they were dancing, some guy ran by in his underwear. "Hey everyone check out my invisible clothes!" he waved his arms to and fro.

Peter knew who it was. One of his non-sober friends. "Excuse me." He looked passed Susan and shouted. "Mark, put your clothes back on!"

Susan started to walk away but Peter followed her. "Do you think we could talk for a bit?" He asked leaving his underwear-clad friend to fend for himself.

"You want to talk to me?" She asked still in that overly-high pitched voice.

"Well it's you or invisible boy over there." Peter pointed out.

"Good call." Susan said laughing a bit at that. And forgetting to use her fake voice.

"I know that voice..." Peter said looking at her.

"It's a common voice?" Susan tried.

Peter reached over to lift up her mask. Maybe if he saw her whole face, he'd figure out who she was. But just then, the clock started to strike twelve. Susan ran away as fast as she could.

Edmund was talking to Julia right outside the door.

"Come on, Ed!" Susan said grabbing his arm. "We're going to be late!"

"Alas, I must say farewell, fair maiden." Edmund said in a very kingly voice to Julia.

"What?" She called after him.

"Goodbye." he called back.

"Oh, you should have said that in the first place!" She rolled her eyes but she was still smiling.

Peter followed Susan and hid in the bushes to watch were she went.

"We're not going to make it." Susan said trying to run in her heels.

"Yes we are." Edmund said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

Susan managed to kick off her heels so that she could run faster.

One them went flying into the bushes, Peter had to doge it. Then he picked it up. He looked carefully at it, 'Property of Susan Pevensie' He shook his head. "I knew it!"

The next morning, Susan woke up feeling very tired and sluggish from the party and then from the race home. They'd just barely made it. After breakfast, Peter asked to talk to her.

"Sure." Susan hoped he hadn't figured out that it had been her last night.

He had something behind his back which he pulled out when they were alone. It was one of her shoes.

"Oh no." Susan gulped.

He didn't seem angry though, rather he smiled and gently put it on her foot as she took a seat on a chair. It slid right on. "It's a perfect fit." was all he said.

She took his hand and smiled back down at him. It was a total Cinderella moment.


	10. As the full moon turns

"A beach party." Peter repeated in a flat, 'You're-kidding-right?' tone of voice.

"It's not a beach party." Susan told him. "It's just a slumber party at a house near the beach."

Some friends from school were having a slumber party at one of their Uncle's friend's cousin's beach house (Or something like that) all Susan had heard was the shrill whine of, "You never do anything with us anymore, we don't have the plague you know!" She knew they were right and desperately wanted to prove that she could still have fun with them.

"And at this party, how are you going to avoid I don't know..." Peter pretended to be in deep thought. "...Growing a tail?" He added in a snappy voice.

"I wont go near the water." Susan promised. "It's too late in the year for swimming anyway. We'll be in the house the whole time."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Peter asked, starting to give in.

Susan nodded. "They're my friends and I hardly do anything with them anymore because of this stupid secret. For once, I just want to have a normal fun time with other girls my age."

"I guess that means it would be weird if Edmund or I tagged along?" He tried.

Susan looked horrified. "I'm not bringing my brothers to a sleep-over!"

"Well, can you at least take Lucy with you? just in case something goes wrong?"

"Are you kidding me?" Susan snapped.

"Alright, fine." Peter said. "have fun tonight and be safe."

"I will." She promised.

In the hallway, Edmund and Lucy were in the middle of a rather humorous argument.

"Please, Edmund?" Lucy begged with her hands pressed together. "Pretty Please?"

"No!" Edmund was adamant.

"Please?" Lucy continued to beg. She was holding out a rather ugly doll to him. "Just put it in your closet."

"Why?" Edmund asked looking at the doll as if it was a pile of dog poop.

"Because then I know I'll never see it again." Lucy explained. The doll had been a gift from Grandma Pevensie. It was the scariest thing Lucy owned and it gave her the creeps. She was desperate to get rid of it.

"Oh very funny Lu." Edmund laughed and tried to walk away.

"I'm serious, Ed!" Lucy insisted. "Please, this thing has the freakiest glow-in-the-dark eyes. It scares me at night."

Edmund rolled his eyes. "It's a doll! What's it going to do to you? Force you to play, 'tea party of doom'?"

"Oh, you're no help!" Lucy snapped.

"Why don't you ask Peter to lose Demon-doll?" Edmund offered, eager to get away from Lucy and her freaky play thing. "He'll do it."

"Pshaw!" Lucy shook her head. "Peter never loses anything."

"That's not true." Edmund said.

"He color-codes his underwear draws!" Lucy said.

"That's true." Edmund sighed. "Fine, I'll lose the stupid doll for you, so Mum doesn't find out you hate it and tell grandma."

"Thanks Ed! You're the best!" Lucy grinned thrusting the doll into his arms and running back into her room.

Peter walked by and looked at the freaky-eyed doll in Edmund's arms. "I don't want to know."

"It's not mine!" Edmund protested as Susan walked by laughing at him.

Late that night, Peter sat on the couch reading one of his mother's house keeping magazines. He didn't even know what he was reading because he was too busy worrying about Susan. Was she okay? What if the girls pulled a prank that involved water and her tail appeared? What if...

Suddenly Edmund's voice broke the silence. "Where's Susan?"

"At a slumber party." Peter told him.

Edmund looked at him like he had five heads. "Are you insane?" He shouted at his brother. "You let her go out during the full moon?"

"The full moon's tomorrow." Peter yawned starting to feel sleepy.

"No it's tonight." Edmund said in a panicked voice. "Look at the calendar." Then he ran over to the window and opened the curtains. "Or better yet, look outside!"

"Oh no." Peter groaned as soon as he realized his mistake. Susan was probably moon-struck and she was right next to a beach...what could be worse? He grabbed the keys to his father's car and raced out the door. "I'll be back."

"Wait for me!" Edmund called from the front door. Peter didn't hear him he was already starting up the car.

Susan was sitting on the floor in the middle of the beach-house's living room with her friends. They were all braiding each other's hair and gossiping. A glass bowl of popcorn was in the middle of their circle. Susan glanced down at it as the moon was rising. The moon's reflection on the glass caught her eye. She stood up and walked out the glass door to the deck that was right by the sea, while the other girls continued to talk amongst themselves.

The door bell rang. The girl throwing the party went to answer it.

Peter stood there feeling more than a little uncomfortable standing in front of seventeen girls in their pajamas.

Three of them freaked out and started combing their hair so they didn't look messy in front of a boy and the others waved at him.

"Hello, is Susan there?" He asked. "Something's come up and I have to bring her home. I'm her brother."

The girls instantly lost interest in the new guest because he was the brother of one of their friends and they had this weird rule that they didn't date friend's relatives.

"She's out back." Someone said.

Peter raced to the back of the house where sure enough, Susan was swimming in the water near the deck under the moonlight, her tail fully formed.

"Susan!" Peter called down to her.

She looked up at him and he felt a chill up his spine when he realized the moon was reflected in her eyes. She was moonstruck alright.

He offered her his hand to help her up. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Susan giggled indifferently, but she grabbed a hold of his hand anyway. Peter was prepared to pull her up but before he had a chance to, she pulled him down into the water. He landed in with a splash.

"Come on, Su." He said as soon as he had caught his breath. "We've got to get you out of this moonlight."

Susan muttered something about Mako Island but with less insistence than she had during the last full moon. He noticed she didn't look like she was doing well. She looked almost frightened.

Suddenly Peter felt like he was swimming in the artic. The water was freezing. He also noticed that Susan was starting to swim father out into the ocean. He swam after her and tried to pull her ashore. Of course it had to be high up the coastline to avoid being seen by anyone which made it even harder but he managed. That is until he realized he could barely feel his hands. He looked down at them. They were practically incased in ice. Why in the world was Susan turning the water into an ice bucket? It wasn't her fault though, he knew she couldn't control it.

Once on land, Peter tried to warm himself. He tried to start a fire but failed because his numb hands kept losing grip of the wood. Susan turned and looked at him strangely.

"Here." She put her hands on his and started to boil away the ice.

"Thanks." His hands felt a little too warm now but he wasn't going to complain it was an improvement.

"This isn't Mako." Susan said sulkily, gazing up at the moon.

"No it isn't and you're not going there." Peter said firmly still shivering because although his hands were warm nothing else was.

Susan tried to get back to the water but Peter had pulled her so far away from it that all she could do was flap her tail up and down like a beached whale. After a while, she tired herself out and fell asleep. Peter finally was able to light a fire and ended up falling asleep next to her shortly afterwards.

The next morning Susan woke up and looked around her. Where was she? All she could see was sand, a fire pit and trees. She heard light breathing. Someone was lying on the beach next to her.

"Peter?" She gasped when she recognized him.

"Five more minutes, mum." He muttered.

"It's not mum, and we're not at home." Susan told him.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I fell asleep?'

"Where are we?" Susan asked him.

"Last night was a full moon." Peter explained. "You saw it, I went after you...we ended up here..."

Susan looked down at his hands. "What happened to your hands?"

They had minor burns on them. Peter knew they were from when she'd unfrozen them but decided not to tell her that. She'd feel bad and even though she'd been moonstruck he knew she'd just been trying to help.

"I had some trouble lighting a fire." Peter said, at least it wasn't a lie. He still felt bad about that other lie he'd told her.

"How did you find me?" Susan asked.

"I took dad's car and drove to your friend's house and you were swimming in the water near the deck." Peter said as they got up and started to walk around hoping they were going the in the direction of where ever Peter had parked the car.

"Mum and dad must be so worried." Susan said. "And it's all my fault."

"No, it's my fault." Peter insisted. "I should've known when the full moon was."

"How bad was I this time?" She looked worried.

"Not terrible." Peter said. "You weren't very pushy this time."

"Well that's good." Susan sighed.

"Susan, there are some things I wanted to tell you." Peter said as they continued walking side by side.

"Alright." Susan wondered why he looked so nervous. "What is it?"

"Do you remember last time you were moonstruck and you asked me if there was anything that happened that I was keeping from you and I said no?"

Susan nodded. She'd had a feeling there was something he'd been keeping to himself about that night.

It's time for the painfully awkward moment of truth, Thought Peter as he said, "Well something did happen...after Edmund and Lucy went to bed, we...well...uh..." He was starting to wish he'd never brought the subject back up but it was too late now. "we kissed." Susan hadn't seen that coming. "We what?" she stopped walking and looked at him in disbelief.

"Well actually to be more exact, you kissed me but that's not really the point." Peter told her.

"I did what?" Susan gasped. "You've got to be joking."

Peter shook his head.

Susan let out a groan. "Anything else?"

"Yes...but not about you." Peter said. "The other thing I wanted to tell you was more about me."

"Is it about being a Burke?" Susan asked before she could stop herself.

"Sort of." Peter mumbled.

"Oh." they started walking again.

"Do you remember when you told me you were in love with me?" Peter asked.

Susan glared at him. Of course she remembered. "I thought we agreed that that conversation never took place."

"I know." Peter said. "But I think you should know, I lied to you."

"About what?" Susan asked, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Not feeling the same way." He said.

"Wait, so you do have feelings for me?" Susan asked in more shock than even she thought it was possible for a person to be in.

"To put it lightly, yes." Peter chuckled at bit. "Susan, you don't know this but, I've been in love with you for a long time."

This has got to be a dream I'm having, Susan thought. There was no way he could actually be saying this to her.

"It started in Narnia." Peter confessed. "After we danced at the coronation feast." He paused for a moment remembering. Then, "You have no idea how much I hated your suitors. Even the nice ones."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Susan asked him. Maybe if he'd spoken up sooner, things would have been different.

Peter looked at her like she was insane. "Susan, think about it, you didn't even know I was adopted then. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't have been completely disgusted if I'd told you how I felt?"

"I can't." Susan admitted.

"That's why I never said anything." Peter told her. "Oh and remember when I almost married that princess from the lone islands but didn't?"

Susan had always wondered about that. That Princess had been a very nice girl and a friend of hers and Lucy's. Peter had seemed to like her quite a bit. They'd even been engaged for a while but he'd called it off.

"The reason I couldn't marry her was because..." He started to get a little red in the face. "She wasn't you...It wouldn't have been fair to her. I couldn't even love her a quarter as much as I loved you. That's why I called it off so suddenly."

"If all that's true, they why did you tell me you didn't feel the same way?" Susan asked feeling suddenly annoyed.

"Because I was...in fact, I still am worried about what'll happen." Peter said. "Admitting how I feel means, that I'm not really a Pevensie like you, Edmund and Lucy."

"You'll always be one of us." Susan told him kindly.

"Maybe." Peter looked doubtful. "Maybe not." Then he let out a sigh. "I mean think about all the people that don't even know about where I came from, if they knew how I felt about you how do you think they'd react?"

"Not well?" Susan cringed at the thought.

"Where's the car?" The change in subject happened because Peter noticed that although they were at the place where he'd parked their father's car, the car wasn't there.

"I guess we're walking." Peter said. "Dad is going to kill me."

"We'll just tell him it was my fault." Susan said.

"We will do no such thing."

"Will too."

"Will not."

"Peter?" Susan asked a while later as they got closer to home. "I'm confused, if we're not brother and sister and we can't be anything else...what are we?"

Peter shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea."


	11. The third secret's not a secret anymore

Hours later, Peter and Susan arrived home. Much to their surprise, the car was in the driveway.

"How...?" Susan started.

"I don't know." Peter said looking just as confused as she felt. "Let's just get inside."

They opened the door and we instantly crushed by hugs from a frightened-looking Lucy.

"You're back!" She cried happily. "I was so worried."

"You really had us scared." Edmund told them looking very relieved himself.

Standing behind their happy-faced siblings were two very upset looking parents.

"Where have you been?" Mr. Pevensie demanded. "We found the car by the house where Susan told us she was staying the night but the girls claimed they hadn't seen her for hours. We were going to call the police. People have been looking for you for hours." He turned to Peter. "Peter, care to explain why you took my car without asking?"

"I-" Peter didn't know what to say. It wasn't as if he could say, "Well you see, dad, Susan's actually a mermaid who goes wacky over the full moon. so when I found out it was a full moon I had to take your car and race over there right away only to be forced into the water and nearly frozen to death."

"It was my fault." Susan cut in.

"It was not." Peter glared at her.

"It was." Susan said firmly. "I left the sleepover early and took your car as part of a dare, it was stupid I shouldn't have done it, Peter tried to stop me...I'm sorry."

"Liar." Peter mouthed.

"Shut up." Susan mouthed back.

"You don't even know how to drive!" Her father looked more upset than ever. "What were you thinking?" Before Susan could say anything he went on, "I'll tell you what you were thinking, you weren't thinking at all!"

Susan and Peter hung their heads in shame.

"Well that doesn't explain, where you were all this time." Mrs. Pevensie said crossing her arms over her chest.

"We went for a walk and got lost, which was my fault because it was my idea to take a walk at that ungodly hour in the first place." Peter said before Susan could take the blame again.

Susan shot him the stink eye and frowned.

"What happened to your hands?" Mrs. Pevensie gasped suddenly noticing the burns on her son's hands.

"Long story?" Peter said knowing that wasn't a good answer.

"Go upstairs and change out of those damp clothes before you catch pneumonia." Mrs. Pevensie told them, even though Peter was the only one with clothes that were even slightly damp and Susan was completely dry. "We'll talk more about this later."

"I'm very disappointed in both of you." Mr. Pevensie said. "I'm so angry with you both, I don't know what to say right now."

Edmund and Lucy followed them upstairs. "So how moonstruck was she?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Peter said.

Later, Edmund, Lucy, Susan, and Peter sat at the table drinking tea while in another room, while their parents were out telling all the neighbors that they didn't have to have a search party after all.

"Whoever's playing with my foot under the table, stop it!" Edmund snapped suddenly, glancing at Lucy assuming she was the one doing it.

"It's not me!" Lucy insisted from the other side of the table. "I'm all the way over here. I can't even reach your foot if I tried." Lucy lifted her left foot out from under the table to prove her innocence.

Susan and Peter both turned very red in the face. They'd both assumed the feet they'd made contact with were each other's not Edmund's.

"Sorry." they blurted out at the same time.

"What's with you two?" Edmund asked them. "You're both acting kind of weird."

"Why would you say that?" Peter asked him. "We're not acting weird...weird...we're so normal it hurts."

Don't over do it, Peter, Susan thought shaking her head at him.

"Uh-huh..." Edmund shrugged and went back to sipping his tea.

"Susan, Peter," Their parents walked into the room. "We've been talking about what happened, and we've decided that you will both be grounded for a month."

"That means, no using the phone, no radio, no going places with friends..." Their mother spoke slowly as if they'd couldn't understand English and had never been grounded before.

"And you can use that time when you're not doing any of that stuff, to think about obeying house rules and not frightening us out of our wits." Mr. Pevensie said.

Well that wasn't as bad as it could have been. Peter thought to himself. Being grounded for a month wasn't too awful.

Because of being grounded, Susan and Peter were not going to attend a party three days later that their parents had been planning to take the whole family to. Now Only Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie and Lucy and Edmund were going.

"Next time you want to do something stupid, maybe you'll remember this moment." Their father said as they all left with out them.

Peter sighed and sat down on the couch. Susan sat beside him. They both stared at the wall blankly, feeling a little awkward. It was the first time they'd been alone together since he'd told her how he felt.

Peter got up for a drink of water from the kitchen. "Did you want anything for dinner?" He asked as he opened the fridge.

Susan got up and walked into the kitchen. "What was that?" She hadn't heard him.

He repeated himself.

"Oh, no thanks." She said. "I'm not hungry."

"Me either." Peter shut the fridge.

"Weren't you getting a glass of water?" Susan asked, noticing that Peter's hands were empty.

"I'm not thirsty." Peter told her as they walked through the downstairs hallway.

"Alright." Susan said, wondering what to say next. She noticed Peter was looking at her. "What?"

"Nothing." He looked away.

She turned and looked at him and then looked away again. Some how or other they'd ended up holding hands after that.

"Peter?" Susan asked.

"Yes?" He answered.

"What was our first kiss like?" Susan wished she remembered and it wasn't as if she could ask him about that in front of her family. And now felt like a good time to ask those sort of things.

Peter hesitated for a moment not sure if what he was about to do was right or if he'd regret it later. He decided to do it anyway "It was something like this." He leaned forward and kissed her.

At that moment, the front door opened and Mr. Pevensie walked in. He'd forgotten something in the living room and had come back to get it. Mrs. Pevensie was right behind him.

"Where did you say you left it d-" She started before she saw what her two eldest children were doing and stopped mid-sentence.

"Helen," Mr. Pevensie said through his teeth. "Tell Lucy and Edmund to go over to the neighbor's house." He didn't want them to hear him flip out. He turned to Peter and Susan and hissed, "The kitchen, both of you, now!"

Edmund and Lucy walked over to the neighbor's house feeling very confused.

"What do you think they did?" Lucy asked Edmund. She'd never seen her Parents look so upset.

"I don't know." Edmund admitted. "It must have been something big. Dad looked like his whole head was going to blow."

"We were gone for three minutes." Lucy said. "What trouble could they possibly have gotten into in such a short time?"

Edmund looked back in the direction of the house for a clue to what was going on but the door was shut and it looked perfectly normal. There was no signs of whatever was being talked about inside. Because he wasn't watching where he was going, he banged right into a girl carrying a map.

"Watch it!" She barked before she recognized him. "Edmund?"

"Julia!" Edmund exclaimed happily. "We meet again." He pointed to Lucy. "this is my sister, Lucy." He smiled at Lucy. "Lucy, this is Julia."

"Hullo." Lucy shook her hand. "Nice to finally meet you."

"You too." Julia said. "By the way, do you two know where this street is?" She pointed to the map. "I'm completely lost."

Edmund explained how to get to that street then he added. "That's where I live, over there." He pointed to the house which still showed no signs of giving away the happenings of it's indoors.

"Nice place." Julia told him.

"Thanks." Edmund didn't know what else to say.

"Nice running into you again, and it was nice meeting you, Lucy." Julia started walking away.

Lucy smiled at Edmund. "You like her." She teased.

"Yeah," Edmund said as soon as he was sure Julia was out of ear-shot. "I really do."

"I think you two would make a lovely couple." Lucy said supportively.

"Thanks for your blessing, Lu." Edmund laughed. "You're the best sister ever."

"I know." Lucy said, smiling back at her brother.


	12. American fish tail someday soon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord, this grammatically awkward fic from 2008 has enough drama to make a telenovela jealous.

Susan and Peter walked into the kitchen.

Mr. Pevensie pointed to two chairs. "Sit!" he growled.

They sat. They knew that voice meant they were in big trouble.

"I don't know where to begin." Mr. Pevensie shook his head as he spoke. "As a father there are some things I don't ever want to walk in on, and this is most certainly, one of them."

"Dad-" Peter tried but he was instantly silenced by a glare from their mother.

Mr. Pevensie went on. "I mean, you try to raise your children right and this is the thanks that you get."

"Peter, I'm very surprised at you." Mrs. Pevensie told him.

"Surprised isn't the word I had in mind." Mr. Pevensie barked. "I was surprised when Edmund got that jumbo-sized crayon stuck up his nose, I was surprised when Lucy tried to flush her homework down the toilet that one time. I think the appropriate word for how I feel now would be, horrified. She's your sister for god's sake. Don't you have the slightest idea how wrong that was?"

"She's knows, dad." Peter said as soon as he could get a word in edge wise. "She knows I didn't come from Mum like she and Edmund and Lucy did."

"You told her?" Mrs. Pevensie looked shocked. "I thought it was decided that no one other than me, your father, and your grandmother knew about that. That's what you said you wanted."

"I found the box in the attic." Susan explained. "I've known for a while."

"That is besides the point." Mr. Pevensie said. "Do you really think that changes anything? Does that change how you were raised? We raised you like our own son, no different from the others."

"But I'm still different." Peter said, weakly.

Mrs. Pevensie shook her head. "You're our son. Do you think I love you any less because I didn't give birth to you? Do you honestly think you're any less one of us because of something as small as that?"

"I don't see it as small." Peter told her.

"We're getting off the point here!" Mr. Pevensie said loudly. "I don't care if the boy's birth parents were lab rats! We are his mother and father and this is his family, and we now have a family crisis because he hasn't learned that as part of this family that is not how a brother acts around his sister."

"How long has this been going on?" Mrs. Pevensie asked them.

"How long has what been going on?" Peter asked not sure of what to say.

"How long have you two had this kind of relationship?" Mr. Pevensie was still glaring at them.

Peter wasn't sure. Where had it really began? Narnia? England? When she'd found out about his birth parents? When she'd kissed him after being moonstruck? When she told him how she felt? When he confessed to lying to her? Two minutes ago? He wasn't even sure what sort of relationship they had. It was too confusing. "I don't know?"

"Um...what he said?" Susan added, not having the faintest idea what to say.

"Unbelievable." Mr. Pevensie muttered under his breath.

"I can't believe you did this, Peter." Mrs. Pevensie said.

"Why are you blaming him?" Susan demanded.

"Susan..." Peter said softly. "Don't..."

"In case you didn't notice, I wasn't exactly pushing him away." Susan told them.

Mr. Pevensie looked even more upset now. "He's the eldest, he should know better."

"By the lion!" Susan snapped, suddenly forgetting that she was not a Narnian queen in this situation just a teenager in trouble with her parents.

Peter slapped his forehead.

"By the _what_?" Mr. Pevensie raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Susan blushed feeling very stupid.

After about an hour of ticked-off-father and very-disappointed-in-you-mother lectures, things calmed down a bit,

"I think the problem is that you two spend way to much time together." Mr. Pevensie said at last. "I think, for the good of this family that a little time apart with do you both wonders of good."

Susan and Peter exchanged confused glances. What did he mean? They weren't together that often. After all they went to different schools most of the year. And what sort of 'time apart'?

"As you know, we were planning on sending, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund to Uncle Harold's for the holidays. But I think it would be best if Susan came to America with us." Mr. Pevensie explained.

"What?" Susan gasped.

"Why?" Peter frowned. "I'm not even going to see Uncle Harold, I thought I was being sent to study at the professor's new house." (Professor Krike had already lost the old one by this point)

"You are." Mrs. Pevensie assured him. "But It's more likely than not that you'll go visit Harold at some point, I mean, you can't study for ever."

"It's only two train rides away." Mr. Pevensie reminded him.

"And Susan would gain a lot from a trip to America." Mrs. Pevensie said, almost happily.

"But Mum..." Susan tried.

"Sweetheart, It's for you're own good, it's not a punishment." Mrs. Pevensie assured her. "And it's not forever."

"Can you take Edmund with you too?" Peter asked them.

Mr. Pevensie's eyebrows shot so high up that they almost flew off his head. "We can't afford that!"

Peter gulped. This was bad. Susan wouldn't be around anyone who knew her secret. It might have been alright if Edmund was there to help her. But since he wasn't, who was going to protect her? What if she saw a full moon by mistake? What if she got splashed with water? She'd be so far away from home...

"How long will we be in America?" Susan asked her parents.

"About three months or so." Mr. Pevensie said. "I have a job there for a while."

"We leave in a week." Mrs. Pevensie told her. "Just as planned."

"Mum, don't you think that's a little extreme?" Peter said.

"She's going to America, not outer space." Mr. Pevensie snapped. "And compared to what I want to do at this moment, no it's not the least bit extreme."

"I'm doomed." Susan mumbled.

Then Mr. Pevensie turned to Peter. "And in the meantime, I will not put up with the kind of behavior I saw tonight, do you understand?"

"Yes, dad." Peter nodded. He understood, he understood all too well.

Later, Edmund and Lucy found out that Susan wouldn't be coming to Uncle Harold's with them.

"She's going to America, with mum and dad?" Edmund asked in disbelief. "They can't do that!" What if she turned into a Mermaid in America and was tossed into a tank in a lab somewhere?

"They can and they did." Peter told him.

"Why?" Edmund's eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Peter said grumpily. "Why do you think it was me?"

"Well something got dad upset." Edmund shrugged.

"There has to be something we can do." Lucy said. She was worried about Susan too.

"Did you plot to steal the car again?" Edmund said trying to guess what had happened.

"No." Peter rolled his eyes. How could he plot to steal the car in under three minutes? And why would Susan get in trouble for that?

"Go through mum's stuff?" Edmund guessed again.

"No."

"Set the kitchen on fire?"

"No."

"Dress up in girl's clothes and dance around the living room?"

"Dear Aslan, no!" Was Edmund out of his mind?

"Did you play, let's throw that expensive vase on the table around like a foot ball?" Edmund asked, remembering a time he'd gotten in trouble for that.

"No! Drop it, Ed." Peter glared at him.

"Drop what?" Edmund asked. "I just want to know what happened."

"It's a long story." Peter told him.

"I've got time." Edmund persisted.

"I'm not telling you anything." Peter said point blank. "What's between me and Susan, is between me and Susan."

"Well what's going to between you and Susan is a continent." Edmund snapped. "And I just want to know why. I mean what happened?"

"Go to sleep!" Their father roared from the other room, still very upset. "I want silence!"

Over the next few days, Susan and Peter didn't get to see each other much even though the were living in the same house. Their parents sent them on various errands that just so happened to be in opposite directions all day.

The only times they got to see one another during that week were at meal times and with everyone staring at them, they could hardly say more than, "Please pass the salt." And of course the fact that they got furious looks from their parents if they even made eye contact for too long, didn't help either.

And with Lucy and Edmund trying to guess what had happened (their guesses, never even came close.), meal times were very awkward.

On the night before the last day before Susan set off for America, Peter couldn't sleep, he laid awake in bed with his eyes closed for hours. He opened them when he had the feeling that there was someone in the room with him.

"Susan?" He asked, sitting up in his bed. "What are you doing in here?"

"Sorry." She whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You shouldn't be in here." Peter said. The walls weren't thick nor were they sound proof, their parents could hear them talking at any moment.

"I know..." Susan sighed. "I just..."

"Me too." Peter gave her an understanding smile. He already missed her and they weren't even on different land masses yet!

"I wish we could spend tomorrow together I mean, we wont see each other again for a while." Susan said mournfully.

Peter shook his head. "Mum and dad will keep us busy all day, after what they saw..."

"Too bad we can just ditch everything tomorrow and hang out some place and talk." Susan said. It would be wonderful if they could just talk for a while and not worry about what the future would bring.

Peter got an idea. He knew at once it was a bad idea but looking into Susan's sad eyes, he decided to suggest it anyway. He made his voice as low as possible. "Why don't we?"


	13. Never talk about cake in public

The next morning, Peter was at the subway station. It was dark and noisy as usual but now he took no notice of that. He was too busy waiting for Susan to arrive. They'd promised to meet there after leaving the house in different directions. He wondered why he was doing this, his parents would never trust him again. Then he saw Susan walking towards him through the crowd. Ah, yes, that was why.

"You made it." Peter smiled at her.

"Where are we going?" Susan wanted to know. He hadn't told her yet.

"Couple of places." Peter said. "You'll see." They both got onto the subway, looking around to be sure no one they knew was there.

"All clear." Susan told him.

"Good." Peter breathed a sigh of relief as the subway started moving.

"Hullo there." A bald guy with a huge gut started talking to them. "Adorable couple." He beamed at them.

"Thanks?" Susan said.

"You remind me of myself and my wife when we were young." He sighed. He turned to Peter. "I looked a lot like you when I was young."

"Great." Peter muttered, reminding himself to lay off potato chips in the future.

By the time they got off the subway, they knew everything about this guy. Way more than they'd ever want to know. For Example that his face swelled up like a balloon every time he smelled cat pee.

"I find it very hard to believe that he was ever anything like you." Susan laughed as they walked out of the station and into the open air.

"But you'll still like me even if I end up fat and my hair falls out causing me to look like him right?" Peter joked.

"Sure, why not?" Susan teased. "But I fully draw the line at openly talking about cat urine. The second you start doing that, we'll be over."

"Fair enough." Peter agreed, still laughing.

They walked down the street until they reached a cafe. Then they went inside.

They sat down at a table in the corner of the room and talked for while.

"Are you going to buy anything?" A cranky bus-boy asked them after three hours had passed.

"Tea, no milk." Susan told the bus boy with out even glancing up at him.

"Make that two." Peter added.

"Fine." He wrote down their orders and walked behind the counter.

"Hey, just wondering, are we on a date?" Susan asked.

"If this is a date, it's much better than the first one I was on." Peter said.

"You've got something gross in you're hair!" Susan crossed her eyes and did her best 'Mary' impression.

Peter chuckled and joined in making his voice as high pitched as it would go. "I will now proceed to pinch the cheeks of Lucy and George because I think that'll make my date like me more."

Soon they were both doubled over laughing.

"Here's you're tea." The bus boy returned with two mugs. Then he smiled at Susan. "And if things with this guy don't work out," He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and wrote some numbers on it. "Call me."

"Too bad we can't set him up with Mary." Susan said as soon as he'd walked away.

"Even he doesn't deserve that kind of torment." Peter said, talking a sip of his tea.

"Hey Ronald!" A voice called out.

"I hate my life." Susan moaned as Jake walked in the door waving at them.

"Susan!" Jake came right up to their table.

"Jake!" Susan said with beyond fake enthusiasm.

Peter moved his chair closer to Susan's and put his arm around her, glaring at Jake who looked down at Susan's hand. "Where's the ring? Did you guys break up?"

"No!" They blurted out at the same time.

"In fact, we just think it's pointless to wear a ring when were getting married so soon, don't we Ronald?" Susan said quickly.

"Yeah, we just couldn't wait five years." Peter played along. "It was too hard."

"Great so when's the wedding?" Jake asked. "Can I come? I'm in the mood to party."

"No." Susan told him firmly. Even if she was really getting married, she'd never invite him.

At that moment, unseen to them, the next door neighbor who's pool Susan had been swimming in after being hit by the full moon for the first time walked in. She noticed Peter had his arm around Susan and wondered what was going on.

"Why can't I come?" Jake sulked as though he was a close friend of theirs and had been unfairly left out.

"We're not having any guests." Peter said, hoping to get rid of Jake.

The Neighbor listened more closely now wondering what they were talking about.

"Why?" Jake crinkled his forehead.

"We've decided to elope." Susan came up with. There! that should shut him up.

"It's much more romantic." Peter agreed, forcing a smile. "Who needs guests?"

"They're just a bunch of judgmental people in one room." Susan added.

"I mean all nonsense about lists and cakes..." Peter rolled his eyes for believability.

"Awful!"

"Couldn't agree more! Where's the love in that?"

"Goodbye Jake." Susan said.

"Have fun eloping." Jake said, way too loudly as he walked away from them and over to the counter to order a drink.

"Think he brought it?" Susan whispered.

"Want to make sure he does?" Peter asked.

"How?"

"Trust me on this one." Peter told her.

As soon as Jake was facing them again, Peter kissed her on the cheek.

"Good plan." Susan told him as Jake ran out of the cafe at last.

The neighbor couldn't believe her eyes. Did Helen know about this? Was it even legal for them to marry each other? And who was that they were talking to? She watched as they walked out of the cafe hand in hand.

"So where are we going?" Susan asked as Peter led her across the street into what looked like a park of some sort.

Once they'd crossed, He put his hands over her eyes. "Keep them closed." He told her as he led her behind some bushes over to a little enclosed spot. Then he took his hands off her eyes. "Look."

They were in a beautiful green area next to a little stream and three tall and lovely trees. It was so quiet and peaceful.

"What does it make you think of?" Peter asked her.

"Narnia." Susan said without hesitation. All the green and trees and peace, all that was missing was the sound of Mr. Tumnus's flute.

"This is where I go sometimes when I need to think." Peter told her. "It's been my place for a long time...Longer than you know..." He looked very sad for a while. "I used to crawl over here out of the nursery window when I was a Burke. That's how I found it."

"Why are you showing it to me now?" Susan asked.

"I wanted it to be your place too...our place, I mean." Peter said.

"It's beautiful." Susan said softly. She bent down and dove into the stream. She swam back up as a mermaid. "It's a wonder you didn't fall in and drown when you were little, this is really deep."

He got in after her. The water was cold but he didn't mind they both swam for a while before getting up and resting under a tree.

"I've decided, that whenever I miss you at the professor's, I'm going to think about right now." Peter said, looking up at the sky.

Susan rested her head on his shoulder. "Me too."

Meanwhile, Edmund was in the back yard listening to some of the neighbors talk on the other side of the wooden fence.

"I'm telling you what I saw, Gina..." The neighbor was saying. "The two of them snuggled up at a cafe talking about running away to get married."

"There's no way." Gina didn't believe her.

"Why would I be making this up?"

Lucy came up behind Edmund and made him jump. "It's not nice to spy at people's fences."

"It's worse to spy on someone spying at someone's fence." Edmund snapped putting his ear back to the wooden post.

"No it's not." Lucy laughed, now putting her own ear to the fence. "So what are they talking about this time?"

"Someone's running away to get married." Edmund whispered. "They didn't say who yet."

"That sound's Juicy." Lucy had to admit that even if it wasn't polite to spy.

"I just don't think of all people, Susan and Peter Pevensie would do that." Gina said firmly. "They're good kids."

Edmund's jaw dropped.

Lucy looked confused. "Did she just say..."

"What did I tell you two about spying?" Mrs. Pevensie came up behind them.

The neighbor heard Helen's voice. She walked over to the fence and looked at her friend sadly. "I'm so sorry about your children."

"Me too." Helen glared at her two younger. "Don't worry, I'll make sure Edmund and Lucy don't spy on you again."

"I was talking about Susan and Peter." The neighbor said. "It's not your fault...I know you raised them right."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Pevensie asked.

"Well I saw them at a cafe today talking about eloping, because of judgmental people and something about cake..."

"That's impossible." Mrs. Pevensie said firmly. "Susan is food shopping and Peter's reading to the elderly."

The neighbor shook her head. "Last I saw them they were walking across the street to Minka's Park."

"I don't believe a word of it." Gina insisted.

"He kissed her on the cheek." The neighbor told them.

"Alert the media." Edmund commented dryly, rolling his eyes. This had to be a misunderstanding.

Lucy giggled into her palm at the silliness of it all.

"You two, back in the house now." Mrs. Pevensie told them sharply.

"Why is mum so worried?" Edmund wondered aloud as they walked back into the house. "Peter and Susan would never do a thing like that."

"Like what?" Their father asked coming in the door after work.

"There's a stupid rumor, that Susan and Peter are running away to get married." Edmund groaned, feeling bad for his older siblings having to put up with such stupidity. "I mean, who comes up with this stuff?"

"Where did you hear that?" Mr. Pevensie wanted to know.

"The neighbor." Lucy explained. "She says that Susan and Peter were taking about cake."

"But of course it's all nonsense." Edmund said getting a drink from the kitchen. "I mean, they wouldn't do that. that would be wrong on so many levels."

"I like cake." Lucy said, not noticing the angry look on her father's face.

A few moments later, the door opened again and Susan walked in. She was fairly beaming. (Of course they'd been smart enough not to enter the house at the same time).

"Where's the groceries?" Mr. Pevensie asked.

Susan gulped. How could she have forgotten? "Uh..."

Peter opened the door carrying bags of food. "Su, you know you really shouldn't leave these on the porch."

"Thanks." Susan mouthed. Thankfully one of them had kept their head today.

"Peter, I've got some bad news for you." Edmund told him. "Guess what the neighbors are saying about you?"

Since when did the neighbors talk about him? "I don't know."

"It's really gross, actually." Lucy told him.

"Is this about the mud and dog poo pile I fell into last week again because..." Peter wished those old gossips would get something new to talk about.

"Worse." Edmund said looking upset. "They're saying that you and Susan are getting married.

"We only pretended to be getting married so that this guy would stop bothering Susan all the time." Peter blurted out.

"Oh thank god." Their mother said, walking in through the back door putting her hand her heart as soon as she heard that.

"I knew it wasn't true." Lucy said.

"Wait, a second..." Their father's glare hardened. "Exactly where were you today?"

"Exactly?" Peter hated lying to them, he was just hoping they wouldn't asks.

"You went somewhere together didn't you?" Mr. Pevensie stared them down. "I'm very disappointed in you both." He turned to Peter. "But you're the one I blame for this. Let's hope all this gossip calms down while we're away."


	14. Mermaids, Moons, and Nightmares

_It was night in Narnia. The High King was asleep in his room. Lying beside him in bed was the queen Susan. Suddenly the light of the full moon began crawling in slowly through the curtains like a silver blade. The light fell upon Susan and she awoke. She sat up slowly, her gaze reaching over the balcony and out at the moon itself. She got up and started walking for the balcony which over looked the eastern sea._

Peter awoke with a start. He wasn't in Narnia after all and it wasn't the full moon, not yet anyway. It was about three days away from the full moon. he was in the bed that Professor Kirke had put aside for him. He'd been at the professor's house for nearly a month.

It's okay, he told himself, nothing's wrong. You're just worried because this is her first full moon in America that's all. It'll be fine.

He couldn't sleep after that so he went out to the kitchen where he banged into Professor Kirke. "Sorry."

"It's alright." The Professor looked at him knowingly. "Nightmare?"

"How did you know?" Peter asked.

"It's almost the full moon isn't it?" He said. "Polly was scared of it too you know..."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked him, feeling the blood drain from his face.

"You're sister's a mermaid isn't she?" He said point black.

Peter wrapped his knuckles on the side of the counter. It wouldn't be very kingly to faint of surprise even though he thought for a moment that he very well might. "How do you know?"

"Polly." He said simply. "Polly went to Mako with her family too."

Peter's jaw dropped. "She did?" He managed to say.

The professor lit his pipe after stuffing with way too much tobacco. Then he eased himself into a chair by the window "Yes. So which of you're sisters is it? Lucy or Susan? I couldn't guess which one, but after hearing about you're vacation...I knew something had to be up."

"Susan." Peter told him. "I can't believe you know about the mermaids."

"Ah, yes, poor Susan." Digory looked sad for a moment. "It'll be harder of her than it might have been for Lucy. These sort of things always have been. But I understand."

"Professor," Peter had the urge to tell him his own secret. "Did you know I was adopted?"

"That would explain a lot." The Professor said looking wiser than ever.

"You aren't surprised?" Peter asked.

"No." The professor said. "You don't look like the others. You look like your grandmother, Bertha Burke."

"How did you know I was from the Burke family?" Peter asked wondering if this was just another dream (Or nightmare).

"Bertha was a friend of mine years ago. A good woman." The Professor smiled at remembering her. "Her son was a holy terror. Took after that dreadful husband of Bertha's. I thought she should have married Robert but her folks wouldn't hear of it, he wasn't high-born enough to suit them. That son...such a dreadful boy..."

"Jacob?" Peter asked in disbelief. His real father's name sounded strange coming from his voice/

"That's him." Professor Kirke shook his head. "You are worthy of a better father than him. It's good that the Pevensies took you in. I didn't know for sure it was you, when we met during the raids but you looked enough like Bertha to make me wonder."

"I can't believe you already knew." Peter said.

"I wasn't something I was just going to bring up." The Professor sighed. "I knew it must have been painful for you."

"I know I'm the one that brought this up, but can we not talk about this now?" Peter didn't know how much more of it he could take.

"Sure thing." Digory gave in kindly. He understood. "but you listen to you guts about Susan now. I've learned from experience that if you think something's wrong, it's probably because there is. Or will be. Humans and Mermaids who are close have been known to communicate in strange ways. Keep that in mind."

_It was night in Narnia. The High King was asleep in his room. Lying beside him in bed was the queen Susan. Suddenly the light of the full moon began crawling in slowly through the curtains like a silver blade. The light fell upon Susan and she awoke. She sat up slowly, her gaze reaching over the balcony and out at the moon itself. She got up and started walking for balcony which over looked the eastern sea. Walking slowly, she pulled apart the filmy lace curtains. Peter got up and followed her._

_"Where are you going?" His voice echoed in the castle room but was slightly muffled by the open air._

_"Home." Susan told him looking down at the sea._

_"Don't!" Peter shouted guessing what she was about to do before she did it._

In the professor's house Peter woke up even more breathless than he had during the last night. Why had he had the dream again? Was it because of the full moon? 'Trust your guts' The professor had said. Peter tip-toed down to kitchen again.

"I trust you wanted to use this?" The Professor picked up the phone and handed it to Peter.

"How did you know?" Peter asked.

"You had another nightmare." Digory explained. "And you cry out in your sleep."

"Sorry about the long distance thing." Peter told him. "I'll pay you back, I promise."

"Don't worry about it, I'm going back to bed." the Professor turned around and yawned as he went back to his room.

Please don't let, my parents pick up, Peter prayed as the phone rang.

"Hullo?" A familiar voice said.

"Su!" Peter cried happily.

"Peter?" Susan sounded very surprised. "Why are you calling?"

"I know this sounds strange, but I had a nightmare...I wanted to see if you were alright." He explained.

"Look, it's good to hear from you, but I have to go." Susan said sounding kind of distant. "I'm sorry."

"But you're alright?" Peter asked. He had to know.

"I'm fine." Susan said. "It was just a dream. Go back to sleep."

"Okay, Love you, bye." Peter said hanging up the phone.

An hour later the phone rang again. The professor picked it up. "Hullo, Professor Krike speaking." He sighed. "I'll get him." He turned away from the mouth piece. "Peter!"

Peter got out of bed and took the phone. "Hullo?"

"Peter?" Susan's voice sounded worried.

"Yes?" Peter answered.

"Um, that nightmare you had...it didn't happen to take place in Cair Paravel did it?"

"Actually yes, it did." Peter said. "Why?"

"Were we in your room at night?"

"Yes."

"I got moonstruck?" Susan sounded even more worried now. "Walked onto the balcony?"

"How do you know that?" Peter asked.

"I had a short nap and just had the same dream." Susan told him.

"That's really weird." That was an understatement alright

"Susan?" Helen's voice called from the back ground. "Where are you?"

"I'm here Mum." Susan called back. Then to Peter, "I've got to go." She hung up the phone.

"Something's going to happen." Peter said more to himself than to the professor.

_It was night in Narnia. The High King was asleep in his room. Lying beside him in bed was the queen Susan. Suddenly the light of the full moon began crawling in slowly through the curtains like a silver blade. The light fell upon Susan and she awoke. She sat up slowly, her gaze reaching over the baloney and out at the moon itself. She got up and started walking for balcony which over looked the eastern sea. Walking slowly, she pulled apart the filmy lace curtains. Peter got up and followed her._

_"Where are you going?" His voice echoed in the castle room but was slightly muffled by the open air._

_"Home." Susan told him looking down at the sea._

_"Don't!" Peter shouted guessing what she was about to do before she did it._

_"I belong in the ocean." Susan dived off the balcony, down the cliff and into the water._

_"Susan!" Peter shouted looking down the cliff in dismay._

_A voice soft and siren-like but still baring a strong resemblance to Susan's called back up, "Come with me."_

Peter woke up in a cold sweat. Tomorrow was the full moon and that had been most intense nightmare yet. Feeling bad about the bill it was going to run up but knowing what he had to do, Peter called Susan.

"Susan, I had the nightmare again." Peter said into the phone as soon as it was picked up.

"Who is this?" his father's voice came back.

"Um..." Mr. Pevensie would be beyond upset if he knew who it was. "This is..um...Joe." Peter came up with quickly.

"Joe who?" Mr. Pevensie called back to his daughter. "Susan, who's Joe?"

"I don't know anyone named Joe." Susan said.

"Don't call here anymore." Mr. Pevensie said, hanging up the phone.

The night of the full moon, Susan planed to stay inside the inn room they'd been staying in, but her parents insisted she attend some sort of cocktail party.

"I can't." Susan tried to convince them not to make her go.

"Why not?"

"I'm not feeling well." Susan faked a cough.

"That's the fakest fake cough, I've ever heard." Mrs. Pevensie said. "You're going tonight."

The party was in a bright room and non of the curtains were drawn.

"Hi, I'm Josh." A boy said to Susan who was trying to avoid the windows so that the moonlight wouldn't hit her when the moon rose. "What's your name?"

"Huh?" She hadn't been listening.

"What's your name?" Josh said again.

The moon rose. Susan's glaze fell on the reflection of it in the mirror behind Josh. She walked out of the party, across the street to a beach and down to the water. She jumped in and her tail formed. She swam and swam further and further out.

Peter was at the beach looking up at the moon, hoping Susan was safe. Please let her be inside some place with no windows, he thought to himself.

Suddenly he noticed something long and gold sticking out from behind a rock. It was a fish tail. A mermaid's tail. Peter ran over to it. "Susan!" He couldn't believe she was really there.

"Peter." She looked up at him smiling, completely moonstruck.

"What are you doing here?" He asked not sure if he wanted to hug her or kill her for coming all this way.

"I'm on my way to Mako." She said in a dazed distant voice. "Come with me."

"You swam all the way from America?" Peter gasped.

"It didn't take long." Susan reached for his hand. "We'd be happy on Mako. Come with me."


	15. What now?

For a moment, Peter was too shocked to do anything but then he remembered being pulled in the water during the last full moon and could see she was about to do that again. There would be a moment right before she could pull with her full strength putting the weight of her tail into it, in that moment he could pull her up. The only question was what to do with her once he'd pulled her up. Maybe it would be better if he had help. The professor could help. But would Susan wait long enough for that?

"Su, will you wait here?" Peter asked uncertainly. "I'll be right back."

Susan showed no signs of leaving without him.

"You wont take off when I leave?" Peter pressed just to be sure.

She let go of his hand. "I'll wait. I wont go anywhere. We'll go to Mako when you get back."

That's what you think, Peter thought as he gave her one last order. "Don't let anyone see you, get behind the rocks." He was worried about this recalling how free she'd felt about showing her tail to Edmund and Lucy when she'd been moonstruck before.

Susan slid behind the rocks. She wasn't even arguing. Peter wondered why she was being so agreeable.

"Professor!" Peter called bursting through the front door of the little house. "I need your help. You wont believe what happened!"

Digory, who was calmly sitting in his favorite chair reading something, took one look at Peter and understood right away. "Susan's swum here from America? " He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Doesn't anything in this world surprise you?" Peter asked amazed by Digory's almost all-knowing tone.

Professor Kirke shrugged. "Precious little." Digory knew mermaids better than Peter realized even then. He got up and started mixing some things into a mug.

"Not be seem rude, but could we hurry it up a bit and have tea later?" Peter tried to say calmly but it came out sounding strained and even a bit angry.

"I'm not making tea." Professor Kirke told him as he stirred the contents of the cup. "It's just a little something to make our little mermaid sleepy, only a fool would try to take on a moonstruck mermaid at full force. She's must be quite tired out from the long swim here but we mustn't take any chances."

Peter looked appalled. He'd trusted the professor whole-heartily before this and felt betrayed at this sudden turn of events "I wont drug her."

"It's not a drug." The Professor assured him. "It's mostly warm milk with a few other naturally sleep inducing things in it. I would never do anything to hurt a mermaid and I'd never do anything to hurt your sister. You can trust me."

"It wont harm her at all?" Peter made sure.

"Certainly not. It'll just make her drowsy enough to keep us and her safe." The Professor told him handing him the mug. "Give her this, then I'll come and help you get her in the car and we'll take it from there."

"I can't believe she swam all the way here." Peter shook his head as if that could some how shake out thoughts he didn't want to think anymore. "Mum and Dad will be furious."

"I dare say they will." The Professor sighed. "But that's not what matters now. Just getting Susan out of the moonlight is what we need to focus on."

"By the lion!" Peter gasped as a whiff of the milk-like drink Digory had made reached his nose. "It's smells awful."

"It smells like fish." The Professor explained. "She'll be more inclined to drink it that way."

"I can't see why." Peter gasped. "I think that smell would make a person less likely to drink something."

"Trust me on this." The professor said patiently. "Mermaids crave sea food during the full moon."

Back on the beach, Susan still waited behind the rocks. She heard someone coming. She peeked out from behind the rock to see if it was Peter or not. It wasn't Peter. A tall thin blond woman stood on the beach.

The woman's gaze feel on the rocks and she noticed the slightest shape of a white face surrounded by long black hair. "Hello?" She called over to the rocks.

Susan stayed behind the rocks and didn't answer her.

"Who are you?" The woman asked.

Susan didn't respond.

"Ella?" A man's voice called from behind. "Where are you?" Susan dived under as soon as Ella turned her head to answer the man.

"I'm here." Ella answered.

"Who were you talking to?" The man asked.

"There was a girl in the water...over there..." Ella looked baffled at seeing only rocks and no girl. "Odd...she was right there."

"Come on, Miss Sting let's get you back inside. It's chilly out here." The man laughed as they walked off the beach.

Moments later, Peter arrived. "Susan." he whispered down into the water. "Where are you?"

He got his answer in the form of a cold splash of water in his face as she surfaced.

He handed her the mug the professor had given him. "Here, drink this."

Susan frowned at it at first until she smelled it. Then she smiled again and drank it in one gulp.

I'll be darned, Peter thought, trying not to laugh as the bizarreness of it all. The professor was right.

Susan yawned. Peter grabbed her and pulled her out of the water. The professor came and helped him lift her onto the beach.

"The tail will be heavy no doubt." The professor warned. "but maybe we can dry her off a bit and get her legs back."

"I couldn't during the other full moons." Peter told him. "Her tail wouldn't go away no matter how dry she was."

The professor nodded. "That is the general rule, but there are rare exceptions. The problem with the full moon in part, is that it causes the mermaid half to attempt to take over the human half. But sometimes the human half fights back." He handed Peter a towel. "Start drying."

"You were right." Peter gasped as Susan's tail started to disappear.

Susan tried to protest but was too tired from the swim over and the drink they'd given her. "I like my tail. I want it back." She yawned-whimpered.

"I know." The professor said soothingly gently touching her shoulder. "It's okay...you'll have your tail again soon, and you'll be swimming among all the reefs and fishes...just rest now...we're here for you."

Susan smiled and stopped even trying to fight them.

"What are you, a mermaid whisperer?" Peter asked amazed once again at how Digory could handle her.

"Something like that." Digory winked at him.

Susan's legs were back. "Thank goodness." Peter sighed. It would be much easier to get her in the car now.

Once they were back at Professor Kirke's house, they lifted her and put her in the one spare bed. "You'll have to sleep on the couch tonight." Digory told Peter.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway." Peter said, looking back at Susan who was asleep now.

"She might not sleep for very long." The Professor instructed Peter. "She might very well wake up before the moon goes down. So close all the shutters and keep a close watch on her until 7 AM tomorrow morning when the moon goes down. Also, Latch the doors. And wake me up if you need anything." Professor Kirke went to bed.

Not long after Peter fell asleep on a chair by the bed.

At around 6:30 AM, Susan was awake and started looking around the room, clearly confused. She might have been looking for the moon but since everything was shut so tightly, she couldn't find it. She walked off and reached for the tap on the kitchen sink. She turned on the water but before she could touch it with her hand, Peter grabbed her wrist.

"Nice try." He said. "Don't touch the water."

"I thought you were asleep." Susan said, her voice slightly less distant but not much.

Peter turned off the water and tried to get her to go back into the bed room.

"Let's go to Mako now." Susan said. "It wont take long."

'Sometimes the human half fights back...' The professor's words rang through Peter's head. Was it possible to play Susan's practical human mind against her wacky mermaid ways until the moon went down?

"How could we even get there?" Peter asked. "Think logically."

"We'd swim." Susan said simply.

"I don't have a tail like yours." Peter reminded her.

"Oh that's right." Susan seemed for a moment almost like her regular self. Then the moonstruckness kicked back in. "You could hold on to my tail. It would only slow us down by about three hours."

"Susan," Peter had a question for her. "Why did you come back for me instead of going to Mako right away?"

"I missed you." Susan told him. "I didn't want to be there alone. I never wanted to be there alone. I always wanted you with me. Don't you remember?"

Peter thought back to the second time she'd been moonstruck. He remembered he'd gotten her back into the house by promising to come with her.

Now they both stared at each other with out saying anything.

The Professor now awake, walked into the room. He looked at each of them with a strange expression and chuckled to himself. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" Peter asked.

"Nothing." Digory chuckled into his morning cup of coffee. His eyes turned to the clock. "five...four...three..two..." Seven dongs followed.

Susan let out a suddenly scream. "Where am I?"

"Good morning Susan." The professor said calmly. "I trust you slept well?"

"Professor Kirke?" Susan gasped. Then she looked at Peter. "Peter?"

"You don't remember how you got here?" Digory asked.

Susan thought back. The last thing she remembered was seeing the moon in the mirror behind that boy at the party. After that it was all a blank. "I swam all the way from America?"

Peter and Digory nodded.

"Oh no." Susan moaned. "I have to get back...Mum and Dad..."

"You're not going anywhere before breakfast." Digory insisted as the toaster dinged.

"Does he know?" Susan asked Peter.

Peter nodded. "But it's alright. We can trust him on this. He was a huge help."

"Why does my mouth taste like raw fish?" Susan wanted to know.

"Sorry. That would be the after effect from the drink we had to give you, but that's the worst of it, I promise." Digory explained handing her a glass of orange juice. "Have some juice."

After breakfast, they talked about what they should do.

"Logically, there are only three things you could do." Professor Kirke explained. "One, you could wait until dark and swim back (Swimming in the day would be out of the question, you might be seen), two you could tell your parents the truth and hope they understand. Three, you could wait a few days then call your parents telling them you stuck off and went back to England by boat."

None of those sounded appealing. Peter thought he was going to be sick. Susan felt horrible.

"Whatever your choice," Professor Kirke said. "As long as you are here, you are my students and must study."

"Now?" Peter asked.

Digory pulled out a large briefcase. "Yes, now. But I think you'll want to study this. It'll be a lot of help I'm sure."

Susan opened the briefcase and Peter took something out of it.

"You recorded all your research on mermaids?" Peter gasped looking at what appeared to be a detailed graph of some sort.

Digory smiled. "I've got some plants to water outside the house. I'll be back soon." He walked out the front door grabbing his watering can.

"Even though I'm not happy about how it happened, I am really happy to be with you again." Susan smiled at Peter. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too." Peter confessed. "I was so worried about you."

"And that weird nightmare?" Susan shuddered.

"That was so strange." Peter said. "I mean how did we have the same nightmare?" Then he changed the subject as he looked through some more of the professor's research. "Did you like America?"

"Some of it was very exciting." Susan admitted. "I met some of the most interesting people. And there's so much to do there."

Peter looked a little insecure. "You didn't meet some else did you?" He looked away from her feeling foolish for being so upfront.

Susan understood what he meant. She gently leaned forward pulled him close and kissed him when he turned his head to look at her again. "What do you think?"

He blushed and looked back at the research. "I think we should get back to studying."


	16. Tails of love letters

Susan was still unsure of what to do. Should she fake that she'd taken a boat back to England? Swim back and hope she could make it? In truth, she was too scared to swim back. She had no idea how she'd done in the first time. Under the full moon, little seemed to frighten her, but under only herself, she was terrified. She glanced over at Peter wondering what he was thinking about.

"Amazing." Peter's eye widened as he read part of Professor Kirke's research. "Susan, did you know that a mermaid can take on a whale in a fight and possibly win?"

"No." Susan said. "And I'm not taking on any whales."

"I'm not suggesting that you do." Peter laughed. "I just thought it was interesting...Look at this..." He handed her a piece of paper that had fallen out of a journal.

" _Today at new thought came into my head, does Polly really enjoy being a mermaid or does she wish to be an ordinary girl again? I wish there was some way of knowing with out asking. I don't like to ask those sort of questions._ " Susan read aloud. "It's professor Kirke's journal."

Peter looked at the date on the paper. "From when he was sixteen."

Susan looked through the briefcase for the whole journal. She found it. It was missing only the one page in her hand the rest were all there safe in their binding. " _I can't believe it,_ " Susan read aloud. " _but I think I may have fallen in love with her, with my friend, with Polly. With a mermaid. I don't know how it happened. I do wonder if she returns the feeling. I wish I wasn't so shy, then maybe I could ask her._ "

"I wonder what happened." Peter said looking over Susan's shoulder at the writing. "I mean, where is she? He talks about her all the time but, he's never told us where she is now."

"I don't think they ended up together." Susan told him. "I just get the feeling something happened."

"Does it say anything about it in there?" Peter asked looking back at the journal again.

Susan flipped to the end. _"I wonder if I shall have to burn this some day, I fear our world will not take kindly to the existence of mermaids. They may even hurt them. I don't suppose I'll ever know why Mako does what it does. I only hope, some day, for the sake of Polly if not for any others like her ask well, that someone does figure it out._ " Susan shut the book. "That was the last entry."

"What's this?" Peter pulled out a piece of folded yellow paper out of the binding. Carefully, he unfolded it and looked at the slight smudged writing. "It's a love letter."

"Aw, how sweet." Susan said. "From Polly?"

"No, it's written to Polly." Peter explained. "It doesn't look like he ever gave it to her. It looks like it's been in the binding for years."

"Poor Professor Kirke." Susan felt his pain. She remembered how hard it was to tell Peter how she felt. It still made her cringe even now that she knew he felt the same way.

"Wow," Peter said looking over the letter. "He really loved her."

Susan leaned over to read the letter herself. "Why does he have a whole paragraph about how beautiful her eyes are?"

"I guess my description of yours wasn't as long winded?" Peter joked.

Susan looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't get the letter I left in your bag?" He asked looking disappointed. "No wonder you never mentioned it."

Susan smiled at him. "You wrote me a love letter?"

Peter looked a little embarrassed. "Maybe."

"I can't believe I didn't get it." She said looking back at the professor's letter to Polly. "Which bag did you put in it?"

"The small black one." Peter said as he looked through the briefcase again.

"I don't have a small black bag." Susan told him looking up now.

"Then who does?" Peter looked concerned. Who'd gotten the letter?

"Edmund." Susan gulped as the realization hit her. "It was another gift from Grandma Pevensie to 'George.'"

"That means..." Peter looked horrified. "The letter's in Edmund's bag?"

"Oh no." Susan moaned.

"I thought the black bag was yours." Peter moaned. "It looked like a girl's bag."

"This is not good." Susan said.

"Tell me about it." Peter agreed. "Are you sure you never had a black bag? Because I really thought..."

Susan shook her head.

Meanwhile, at Aunt Alberta's house, Edmund was eating a sandwich in Eustace's room. It was two week after their last visit to Narnia. Eustace's behavior was very much improved.

"Edmund, do you have the playing cards in your bag?" Lucy asked as she walked by the room. "They're not in mine."

"I'll check." Edmund told her as he opened the black bag and started checking all the compartments.

"Well does he have them or doesn't he?" Asked Eustace appearing in the doorway behind Lucy.

"Eustace Clarence!" Aunt Alberta's voice called.

"Coming mum." he called.

"What?"

"I mean Alberta." Eustace ran off to see what she wanted.

Lucy giggled into the palm of her hand. That was the third time he'd called her "Mum" since they'd gotten back from Narnia.

"What's this?" Edmund found a white envelope and opened it. "It looks like a letter to Susan."

Lucy felt guilty remembering that she'd hadn't given her sister much thought lately. She'd only thought about her twice once when she'd read the magician's book and the time she passed mermaids on the way to the edge of the world. "Maybe we should leave it alone then."

"It's a love letter." Edmund stuck out his tongue. "Who'd write a love letter to her?" It had to be someone he knew, the handwriting looked very familiar. But he couldn't place it. " _My dearest Susan,_ " Edmund read aloud.

"Aw, put it back Ed." Lucy insisted knowing if a boy wrote her a love letter she wouldn't want her brothers reading it.

Edmund continued to read it. "What's wrong with this boy?" He laughed. "He just goes on and on..." who was this annoying lout?

"Whoever he is, he must really like her." Lucy still felt bad about Edmund reading it. "Let's leave it alone."

"By the Lion...is he ever going to stop naming the ways he loves her?" Edmund rolled his eyes. "He's up to fifty-two already. Can't he just drop it? Oh great, he just thought of another thing he loves about her...number fifty-three."

"Ed!" Lucy tired again.

"Alright, Lu, you win, Let me just skip to the end and see who the smitten nutcase is." Edmund skipped to the end of the letter and his eyes widened in disbelief. So that's why the handwriting was so familiar.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"Life as we know it is over." Edmund told her looking back at the letter in his hand.


	17. Nothing left to give

"Why? Who's it from?" Lucy asked wondering why Edmund looked so confused and upset. She leaned forward to look at the letter herself before Edmund shifted and her view of it was ruined by his shoulder.

"Um...you don't want to know." Edmund started to turn red. Lucy and Peter were very close and he didn't want to change the way Lucy saw her big brother.

"Yes, I do." Lucy insisted. What was he trying to keep from her?

"No, you were right, we shouldn't have read it." Edmund folded up the letter wondering if he'd ever have any respect for his elder brother again after this. He certainly didn't have any now. He thought he might even at this moment, hate him. He'd never thought his own brother could be so...twisted.

"Why wont you let me see it?" Lucy asked.

"It's not polite." Edmund said.

"But you saw it." Lucy pointed out.

"And I deeply regret it." Edmund told her. Did he ever!

"Did the boy say something..." Lucy turned a little red as she tried to come up with a lady-like way of asking a not so lady-like question. "...Disrespectful?"

"Um, it depends what you mean by disrespectful." He said. If she meant out right dirty comments, no. If she meant their own brother expressing feelings he really shouldn't have then, yes.

"I mean..." Lucy tired again.

"I don't have the playing cards in my bag, Lu." Edmund changed the subject, wondering if he should burn or burry the letter so Susan never had to read it. "Go outside and play with Eustace, I've got somewhere to go."

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked as Edmund grabbed his scarf and hat, heading for the door. "It's too hot for those..." she added.

In the shock of the moment, Edmund had forgotten. He took off the hat and scarf then told Lucy. "I'm going to the Professor's."

Lucy clapped happily, any worries over the letter long gone in her mind. "Great, we can go together. I want to see Peter, I haven't seen him in..."

"No we can't." Edmund said quickly. "I'm going on my own."

Lucy pouted. "Why can't I come?"

Good question. "Uh..." Edmund quickly thought of something. "Eustace would be all by himself."

"Can't he come too?" Lucy asked.

"No...they had a fight." Edmund came up with.

"Who? Eustace and the railway station people?" Lucy looked very confused.

"Eustace and Peter." Edmund lied. "Some bad name calling, hard feelings, wouldn't want them to run into one another until they calm down a bit."

Lucy believed him. "When did they fight?"

"Real recently." Edmund said wondering if lightning was going to come and strike him for telling so many lies in a row. Rabadash's words though long forgotten and never believed rang in his head now, 'the lightning bolt of Tash, strikes from above!' That did not sound appealing.

"Why didn't Peter say anything about it?" Lucy wondered. "He tells me everything."

No, he tells Susan everything. Edmund thought bitterly. Even things he really shouldn't tell her. But he knew better than to put fuel in the fire by retorting, "Peter didn't tell you about Susan being a mermaid did he?"

Rather he walked out of the room, leaving Lucy with the impression that Her brother and cousin were mortal enemies.

Back at Professor Kirke's house, Susan and Peter had finished studying and were now having tea with Digory.

"So did you find anything useful in my research?" He asked them as Peter stirred his tea and Susan took a sip of her's.

"It was a big help." Peter told Digory gratefully. "How can we ever thank you?"

"I don't need thanks." The professor said kindly. "Only understanding. Now that we all understand each other things will be better."

Peter nodded as Susan blew on her tea to make it cooler.

The Professor smiled at them. "So, problems with the parents, huh?"

"How do you know?" Susan asked suspiciously.

"I'm not a fool, dear girl, I saw the way you both looked at each other this morning." Digory laughed. "What did you think I meant when I said we all understood each other?"

Susan and Peter didn't answer. They'd assumed he'd meant the mermaids not the other thing.

As if reading their thoughts, Digory went on, "I did mean the mermaids but it was one of those things that has a double meaning. You'll find their are more of those in the world than things that have only one meaning."

"But how do we deal with it?" Susan asked. "It's...hard..."

Digory reached over and patted her hand. "I know." He said kindly. "I know."

"Do you think anyone will ever understand?" Peter asked. "Other than yourself?"

"The world is a very cold place." Professor Krike told them. "At least, our world is." He added a wink at the hint of Narnia. "But their is always hope. Don't lose it."

"We wont." Susan said.

"At least you're both braver than I was." Digory sighed. "You told each other how you felt. I never could tell Polly."

"She never knew?" Peter asked.

"No." Professor Kirke looked very sad. "It's strange, I was young, had money, was her closest friend, and yet I still felt I had nothing to offer her. That's what held me back."

Peter understood that all too well. he could remember a High King living in a castle, having everything and still feeling he had nothing to give to his queen. Nothing but what she already had.

"What happened to her?" Susan wanted to know.

The Professor took a sip of his tea before answering them with one single word, "Nothing."

They both wanted him to explain what he meant by that but neither had the heart to ask.

"So, have you decided what you're going to tell your parents?" The Professor asked them. "Poor things, I do pity them, it must be frightful to find your own daughter missing."

Susan felt very guilty. "I'm going to call them tomorrow and tell them where I am. I just can't swim back, I'm too scared."

"I think, you'll be alright in the end." The Professor told them. "I don't know, who can know? But I do think."

There was a knock at the door.

"Ah, that'll be Ivy." The Professor said ."Such a nice girl, used to be maid in my house. Very young and very kind. She does come around time to time to see if I'm doing well. It's like having a daughter in a way."

Susan got up to open the door.

It wasn't Ivy after all, It was Edmund. His jaw dropped when he saw her. "Susan? What are you doing here?"

"Long story?" Susan said nervously. She wondered if he'd seen the letter or not. Maybe not. Maybe they were safe.

"Is Peter there?" Edmund asked willing his brain not to explode from the over-dose of shocking discoveries.

"Hey, Ed." Peter said as he walked over to them, trying to act natural.

"Can we talk?" Edmund asked.

"Sure." Peter agreed.

"Alone?" Edmund frowned at Susan.

"I'll go tell the Professor you're here." Susan said leaving them alone.

"Peter, how could you?" Edmund demanded.

"How could I what?" Peter asked.

"Write a note like this to Susan!" Edmund pulled the letter out of his pocket. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I can explain." Peter tried.

"Unless you know another girl named Susan, I don't think you can!" Edmund glared at him. "She's our sister!"

"No, Edmund." Peter said closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He had to tell him. There was no way around it. "She's your sister."

"What do you mean?" Edmund looked a little less angry and a little more confused.

"I'm not really your brother." Peter said the pain of the words hurting more than he thought possible. He didn't want to admit the family he'd grown up with, the family that he loved and belonged to, wasn't really his own. "My real last name is..." could he say it with out having a break down? When saying it made it true after all these years? He could turn back now, he still could...But then he thought of Susan, no he couldn't turn back now, it was too late. He was willing to give up being a Pevensie for her. She was worth it. It was the one thing he had left to lose, his identity "...Burke."

Edmund looked up at his brother as if seeing him for the first time. In a way, he was.

Meanwhile, Lucy sat with Eustace playing checkers (They never did the get the cards.)

"What did you and Peter fight about?" Lucy asked him.

"Peter and I fight?" Eustace burst out laughing. "I'm not an idiot Lu, he's bigger and stronger than me. Even before getting sucked into that painting I wouldn't have been such a fool."

"You didn't argue at all?" Lucy asked. Had Edmund lied to her?

"No." Eustace said as he moved his piece on the board. "King me."

"I can't believe he lied to me!" Lucy got up, stamped her foot and walked away. Why didn't her brother trust her? Why the secrets? Why the lies?

"Does this mean I win?" Eustace asked after her.

Lucy didn't answer. She was going to the Professor's get answers. She didn't have time to give them.


	18. The drama never ends

"What?" Edmund asked feeling as though he was in one of those strangely real dreams in which the weirdest things happen and then you wake up and realized that none of it happened. This was to strange to be real. This all had to be a dream. The letter, the secrets, how could any of it be real? But the look of pain on his brother's face was real. That much was certain.

"I was adopted, Ed." Peter said.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Edmund asked almost in a whispered.

"I thought you wouldn't think of me the same. I didn't want that." Peter explained. "More than anything, I just wanted to be a Pevensie like you, Lucy, and Susan."

Now they walked in the Professor's small yard out back as they talked it over.

"You are one of us." Edmund insisted. "You've always have been."

"Then why do I feel like I'm not?" Peter wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Edmund said. "but hey, If you're not related to us, why do you look like us?"

Peter laughed a little. "If I look anything like the rest of you, it's pure coincidence."

"Oh." Edmund didn't know what else to say. "So, if you're not related to us, then I guess it's okay for you to um..." He handed the letter back to his brother. "...give this to her."

"Thanks, Ed." Peter said, he started back for the inside of the house.

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"That letter was most snappy piece of nonsense I've ever read." Edmund told him. "I'm sure Susan will think it's great."

Peter nodded and started walking again.

"Oh and Pete?"

"Yes?"

"You'll always be my brother, no matter where you came from." Edmund told him. And it was true. Why should it matter who his birth parents were? Or that he'd fallen for Susan of all people? He was still Peter. The last name didn't matter as much as he seemed to think.

Peter gave Edmund a hug.

"Ow, you're worse than Lucy!" Edmund protested only half-joking.

"You're the best, Ed."

"I am aren't I?" Edmund laughed.

Susan looked nervous when she saw them. "Have a nice talk?" She asked as Peter causally slipped the letter into her hand for her to read later.

"Yes." Edmund said in a surprisingly stern voice. "And I have one thing to say."

"And what might that be?" Susan asked.

"Yes, Ed, do tell." Peter added

"If you two act lovey-dovey all the time at home now. I'm moving out." Edmund said. He was okay with the relationship but he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle two teenage love-birds every day from morning till night. 24/7.

"Edmund!" A voice called. Lucy stormed into the house. (The Professor had let her in)

"Hide me." Edmund hid behind Susan.

"Susan?" Lucy stopped in her tracks when she saw her sister there. "What are you doing here?"

"Moonstruck swimming." Susan admitted.

Lucy hugged Susan then Peter before turning back to glare at Edmund. "Ed! Why did you lie to me?"

"I'm sorry." Edmund said. "It's that-"

"Come on, Lu." Peter knew the time had come to tell her the truth. Telling Susan and Edmund had been hard but it was going to be the most difficult with Lucy. He only hoped she could understand. "Let's go outside and talk, there's something I have to tell you." He took his little sister's hand and walked back out to the garden.

"Poor Lucy." Susan said as she watched them from the window.

Edmund nodded. "I can't believe I told her that Eustace and Peter were in a fight."

"I can't believe she believed Peter and Eustace were in a fight." Susan said with a slight laugh.

"Edmund, Mum and Dad, they don't think it's right that Peter and I feel the way we do." Susan said. "Because of how we were raised. What do you think?"

"I don't know." Edmund admitted. "On the one hand I see why they would feel that way but on the other hand, he really loves you Susan, I don't think he's going to be able to just stop because Mum and Dad want him to. I mean, wait until you see that letter..it's...really something."

"I just don't know what to do." She sighed. "I mean what will the neighbors say? And the relatives? Remember what happened last time the neighbors thought there were something between us?"

Edmund laughed. "Yeah, you and Ronald make a lovely couple."

Susan gave her brother a light shove. "Shut up."

They looked back out the window. Peter had told her. Tears slid down Lucy's face. But then she said something, threw her arms around his waist and hugged him.

Susan and Edmund shared relieved glances. It had gone well.

Then next day, Edmund and Lucy were back at Aunt Alberta's house and Peter and Susan sat and stared at the phone. The time had come to call their parents and both were nervous (To put it mildly) about it.

"Want me to do it?" Peter offered. "Then you wouldn't..."

"No." She forced a smile to mask how horrible she feeling. It was sweet of him to offer but she knew it had to be her. "I have to do this." She took a deep breath, squeezed Peter's hand and picked up the phone.

"Hullo?" Mr. Pevensie's voice sounded weak like he hadn't slept for days.

"Dad?" Susan managed to say.

"Susan!" Mr. Pevensie gasped. "Where are you? Are you alright?"

He sounded so scared. Susan wanted to cry. She'd never wanted to hurt him or her mother. "I'm fine, Dad." Susan told him. "I'm in England."

"What?" his screamed to loudly that Susan had to hold the phone away from her ear for a moment. "How in god's name did you get there?"

"I took a boat back here the night of the party." Susan lied. She wasn't going to tell them about her tail. She just couldn't.

"You what?" Her father's voice got even angrier. "Susan Pevensie! Do you have any idea how scared we were? We called the police. Why do you do this to us? What did we ever do to deserve this?"

"Nothing." Susan said softly.

"Then why do you treat us this way?" Her father asked his voice breaking a bit now. He was trying not to cry, she could tell. "We thought something had happened to you. We thought you might be..."

"I'm sorry." Susan whispered, starting to cry a bit herself.

"So you're at Harold and Alberta's?" Mr. Pevensie asked as soon as he started to calm down a bit.

Susan was tempted to say that was exactly where she was. And that she wasn't sitting right next to Peter at that very moment. But she'd told enough lies. It time to tell at least one bit of truth. "No, I'm at Professor Kirke's."

"He's sitting right next to you, isn't he?" Her father's voice growled.

She knew what 'he' he meant. "Yes."

"Put him on the phone." He demanded. "Now."

Susan handed the phone to Peter. "Hello, Dad."

"Did you have anything to do with this?" Mr. Pevensie wanted to know.

"With what?" Peter asked.

Mr. Pevensie took a deep breath to will himself not to scream again. "With Susan coming back to England...did you plan that?"

"Dad, I wouldn't do that." Peter insisted. How could they possible think that of him. "You believe me don't you?"

"That's just it, Peter." Mr. Pevensie said. "I don't know what to believe anymore. There's a lot of things I never believed you would never do that you did."

Peter closed his eyes. He hated it when his father was angry with him. "Dad-"

"How do you think it makes a father feel when his son acts indecently with his own sister?"

Indecently? Peter didn't agree with that one bit. He'd kissed her a couple of times, that was it. "You don't understand..."

"I understand perfectly well." Mr. Pevensie said. "I thought by keeping you apart for a while you'd learn some level of self control...Peter, she's not even sixteen yet."

"I know that." Peter said.

"She's just a child." He added.

"She wasn't always." It slipped out. Susan slapped her forehead. That wasn't something he should've said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mr. Pevensie demanded sounding dangerously upset.

"Nothing." Peter said quickly. "It means nothing."

"You are nineteen years old. Don't you know how wrong this is?"

"I-" Peter tried.

"Look, I want Susan at Aunt Alberta's as soon as possible." Mr. Pevensie said. "We'll be home in a few days."

"Yes, dad." Peter said.

"We'll finish our discussion then when it's not running up the professor's phone bill."

"Alright."

"Bye." Mr. Pevensie hung up.

"Bye." Peter hung up the phone and sighed. "That didn't go well."

"Tell me about it." Susan agreed.

A few days later, Susan, Edmund, And Lucy came down from Alberta's house to visit the Professor.

"Susan, you hogged the bathroom all morning." Edmund grumped as they got on the train. "I didn't get a turn and now I look like I just got electrocuted." His hair was sticking up much more than usual.

"How does it get stay up like that?" Lucy asked reaching her hand up to tap the top of Edmund's greasy head.

He slapped her hand. "Don't touch it."

"Ow." Lucy pouted.

"Susan just had to look good for her boyfriend." Edmund muttered.

"Don't worry, Ed." Susan teased (She was in a very good mood). "We'll just dump a bucket of soap-water over your head and it'll take care of the stench."

Lucy giggled.

"Oh very funny." Edmund sneered.

When they arrived The Professor wasn't there. He'd gone out to visit someone. But Peter was still there.

"Hey, Lu." He gave his baby sister a hug. "How are you?"

"Great." She told him.

"Ed, what happened to you?" Peter asked noticing his brother's hair looked like one of the monsters from poorly done horror films.

"I don't want to talk about it." Edmund glared at Susan.

"Hi." Susan said.

"Hi." Peter said back.

They both stood there beaming at each other until Edmund cut in. "As deep as that conversation is, why don't we all do something?"

"Why don't we go to the beach?" Susan suggested.

"What about your tail?" Lucy asked.

"I just wont go in the water if anyone's there." Susan shrugged.

"I'll just leave a note for the Professor." Peter said as he wrote something down and put the note on the counter.

They were the only ones at the beach. So they could play and yell as much as they wanted to.

They had a blast shoving one another into the water. The only one who didn't get wet was Susan. That's when Edmund and Peter decided to gang up on her and get her into the water.

Edmund tried to grab onto her feet and pull her in the water. He lost his grip and fell in himself.

"No, Ed." Peter laughed taking a step closer to Susan. "That's not how you get a mermaid in the water. Let me show you how it's done."

He wrapped his arms around Susan's waist, spun her around and threw her in.

She went under and came back up as a mermaid. Her long golden tail trailing behind her.

Edmund burst out laughing and Lucy clapped.

"Children?" A voice called in the distance called.

"Is that mum and dad?" Lucy asked wiping her wet hair away from her face.

"Oh no." Peter and Edmund helped Susan out of the water.

"She's too wet..." Lucy said. "Mum and dad will see her tail."

"No they wont." Susan said using her powers to boil away the water and make her tail vanish.

"That's too cool." Edmund said.

"I know." Peter agreed.

"Mum!" Lucy cried as soon as she saw her parents.

"I thought you were at Alberta's." Mr. Pevensie said. "We stopped by and she said you'd gone to the professor's who said you'd gone here."

"Just having some family fun." Peter said. As Lucy hugged both her parents tightly. And Edmund looked around them seeing if they were hiding presents.

Everyone grabbed their things. Susan picked up her purse and wiped the sand off it. A small white envelope fell out. She didn't notice. Her father picked it up and opened as the rest of the family walked ahead of him.

It was the letter Peter had written for Susan that Edmund had gotten by mistake.

Mr. Pevensie's eyebrows sank deeply down, he looked completely disgusted. "I'm going to kill him."


	19. bravery in the face of upcoming trials

"Peter, would you care to explain this?" Mr. Pevensie pulled out the letter and handed it to him. It was fairly late at night, they were at home now and everyone else was upstairs asleep.

"Dad, I know you don't think it's right but, I'm in love with her." Peter said. He wondered how mad his father was going to be now but this was no time to water down the truth.

"She's only a child." Mr. Pevensie looked pleadingly at his son. "Don't you care about this family?"

"Of course I do." Peter said. He was surprised by his father's lack of anger. Perhaps the anger came only with the surprise and shock of the whole thing. Once the shock wore off, no more anger.

"Then why would you do this to us?" Mr. Pevensie asked still in low almost-mild voice.

"Do what?" Peter said. "I'm not hurting anyone."

"How can you say that?" His father said in a tone a bit louder but not much. "What are people going to say about this family when they find out?"

"Is that all you care about?" Peter said getting a bit fed up. "Isn't the more important thing what's best for Susan?"

"Of course it is." His father agreed. "And I don't think that sort of relationship with you is best for her. Peter you were raised as siblings, you're older than she is, it's just not going to work out. As your parent and hers I want to help you avoid unnecessary pain in life. Can't you just except that?"

"If it's the age, I'm willing to wait for her." Peter told him.

Mr. Pevensie looked a little surprised. "How long?"

"As long as need be." Peter said.

"You really love her don't you?" Mr. Pevensie asked.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." He said.

Mr. Pevensie's face softened. "Look. Maybe I was a little too angry before. But you've got to see it from a father's point of view."

Peter nodded. "I know, dad. I just don't know what else I could've done different."

"You do realize that if you two became a couple, everyone will know where you really came from?" His father reminded him.

"Yes."

"And you're okay with that?" Mr. Pevensie asked.

Peter smiled and said. "Believe it or not, yes."

"Alright, who are you and what have you done with my son?" Mr. Pevensie joked, then with a slight sigh handed Peter back the letter so he could do as he pleased with it. He was giving in and this was his way of showing it.

Peter chuckled a bit at that. "I did used to be pretty dead-against anyone knowing wasn't I?"

"Yes, yes, you were." Mr. Pevensie laughed again.

It had been a while since the two of them had laughed together and had a conversation that didn't began or end in "I'm very disappointed in you". And it felt really good.

"Peter," His father said as he started to get up. "I never regretted taking you in, you know that don't you?"

"Yeah, I know." Peter smiled back at his father. Blood may have been thicker than water. But love it seemed was much thicker than either. From that moment on he decided that he was a Pevensie but not completely. and that was alright. He began at that moment to think of himself as Peter Burke-Pevensie. Somehow, being part Burke wasn't so bad after all.

Two days later, Peter was in the kitchen fixing lunch for Lucy when he heard what sounded like crying. "Lu, I'll be right back."

He walked into the front hallway where Edmund stood comforting a crying Susan. "Shh...it's alright. You're safe now."

"What happened?" Peter asked.

Edmund looked very worried and upset. "I'll tell you later." He mouthed. Susan was still crying. "Shh...it's okay...everything's going to be fine."

After Susan had calmed down, Edmund told Peter what had happened. "Someone tried to kidnap her." Edmund looked frightened and angry but his voice was calm.

"Who would do that, everyone in this town knows her." Peter said. Why would anyone try to hurt her? She was a favorite with the neighbors. Everyone in town loved her. And the gossip about her running away to get married had long been yesterday's news.

"I'm really scared for her." Edmund said. "I don't know who the person was and they..."

"They what?"

"They called her 'Mermaid', Pete." Edmund looked down at his hands. "I don't think our secret's just our secret anymore."

"How did they find out?" Peter was started to feel afraid too.

"Lion's Alive!" Edmund gasped looking down at the newspaper in front of them. "That's her!" he pointed to the photo of the reporter on the front page. "She's and some other guy are the ones that tried to kidnap Susan."

"I think we can deal with this, Ed." Peter said bravely as he memorized the face of their new enemy. "We wont let anything like that ever happen to Susan. She'll only end up in a lab over our dead bodies."

Peter and Edmund decided not to tell Lucy about what had happened. They felt they could handle this Ella Sting and whatever else life was going to throw at them. They were going to be okay. Life was in a way starting a-new. Both boys could feel it. They only wondered what it would really mean. Not just for Susan, but for all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters take place a couple of years later, right before the Last Battle trainwreck.


	20. Mermaids don't believe in fairy tales

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exactly one week before Infamous The Last Battle railway crash

_London England, 1949_

"Peter, something has to be done about her." Edmund said firmly. They were sitting in Peter's room after returning from yet another Party Susan had dragged them to.

"Ed, what are you talking about?" Peter asked.

"Susan." Edmund explained. "Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?" Peter asked, already dreading the conversation he knew they were going to have. Of course he noticed, he just preferred to ignore in and pray it was just a phase.

"That Susan's completely changed." Edmund said. "Peter, don't play dumb. You know it as well as I do."

"It's a phase, Edmund. She'll get over it." Peter insisted. At least he hoped it was. She'd been simply horrible lately. She'd gone to party after party wearing way too much make up and talked down to Lucy as if she speaking to a four year old rather than the lady she had once co-ruled Narnia with.

"Pete, it's not a phase, a phase is like when you went around with a towel pinned to your shoulders and told everyone you were a super hero and then changed your mind and was a fireman the next week." Edmund didn't believe Susan was ever going to be her old self again and wished Peter would get out of denial.

"Big deal, I was nine." Peter said, suppressing a yawn.

"She doesn't even believe in Narnia anymore." Edmund pointed out.

"Yes she does." Peter said. "Of course she does."

"Alright then," Edmund got up and opened the door to the hallway. "Why don't you go and talk to her about it then? Have a nice chat about the balls and tournaments."

Peter knew she wasn't going to talk about that. She never did anymore. She avoided any talk of Narnia like it was the plague. "It's late."

"She's still up."

"She's tired." Peter said knowing it was a lame excuse.

"Tired from what?" Edmund asked stubbornly. "From going around a room all night whispering with her friends and flirting with boys? She must be exhausted." Edmund rolled his eyes.

Peter's eyes narrowed. "She was not flirting with them."

"She was, Pete." Edmund said in a kinder voice. "I know you don't want to believe it but she's not the same girl she used to be."

"She is..." Peter insisted weakly. "She's just...confused."

"She's changed, Peter." Edmund said. "You just can't see it because you don't want to."

"That's not true." Peter retorted.

"Yes it is, you just don't want to admit that the girl you're in love with has become a vain, selfish, egotistic..."

"Don't talk about her like that." Peter said in an 'You are treading on dangerous grounds' voice.

"I'm only saying the truth." Edmund said. "I care about Susan too but she's not the Susan we used to know, Pete, she's a stranger, and I don't like her."

"Well that's your problem then." Peter said.

"Darn it, can't you see what's happened to her?" Edmund asked.

"Drop it." Peter said in a warning voice.

"Why should I?" Edmund said getting very more upset by the minute. "The only way we can do anything for her is if you're willing to admit she has a problem."

"Shut up, Edmund." Peter didn't want to hear this.

"Listen I'm only trying to help." Edmund said thinking of how much easier convincing Susan that Narnia wasn't just a game they'd played as children would be if Peter were only willing to admit she needed help. But he wouldn't. He simply refused to believe the change had even taken place. "You're in denial."

"I'm in denial?" Peter snapped in a rather nasty tone of voice. "I'm not the one who still believes Julia's coming back after nearly two years." As soon as the words were out of his mouth and he saw the look on his brother's face, Peter wished he could take them back.

"Thanks for that." Edmund said in a hurt voice. "Thanks a lot." He turned to leave.

"Ed, I-" Edmund turned around but only half way. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Yeah, you did." Edmund said. He never understood why Julia never came back for him. She'd promised she would, but he hadn't heard from her since she left England and went home. He wondered if something had happened to her or if she'd just forgotten him. But how could she just forget about him after claiming she loved him?

"Alright, maybe I did." Peter admitted. "But I..."

"I know." Edmund said then he gave Peter a look that meant, 'I'm going to say something important so shut up and listen' "But trust me Peter, as far as Susan's concerned you don't have it sorted."

"I don't know what to do." The feel of denial lifting and long suppressed pain being let in hurt even more than he'd expected it would.

"There's only one thing you can do, talk to her." Edmund said as he left the room. "There's no other way."

Sometime during the past year, the Pevensies had gotten a pool in their back yard. It was Mr. Pevensie's idea on what to send some extra money they'd unexpectedly come into on. Lucy swam in it all the time and occasionally joined by Peter, Edmund, or one of her parents.

Susan of course never swam there in the daytime. Anyone could look out and see a mermaid and she'd be hauled off by Ella Sting or someone else just as bad quicker than you could say, "Secret's out". But Sometimes at night, She swam there. It was the only time she could stand her tail these days. She found herself hating it more and more. More than anything else in the world, she just wanted to be a normal girl again. No more fish tail and no more memories of life as a Narnian queen.

As she swam, her long gold tail swaying to and fro behind her, She suddenly heard footsteps on the tiles beside the pool. She quickly ducked under.

"Su, it's alright." A voice said. "It's me."

Susan surfaced. "Peter? Good gracious you scared me."

"By the lion, who did you think it was?" Peter joked.

Susan shook her head at him and laughed. "Don't you think it's time we stopped swearing, 'by the lion'?"

Why would she say something like that? Peter wondered. "No, why?"

"People who didn't grow up with us playing those funny games wont get it." Susan explained. "We'll look so foolish. I suppose it's alright for Lucy, she's still young but for you, me, and Edmund? Don't you think we should be more grown up?"

"You don't really believe it was a game do you?" Peter asked kneeing on the tiles so they were eye to eye.

Susan looked up at him surprised that he looked angry. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you." Peter told her. Although he thought considering the fact that she felt free to flirt with other guys right in front of him at parties, he had every right to be mad at her if he wanted to be. "I just want to talk about Narnia."

"Narnia." Susan said dreamily. "Wasn't it funny that the Professor played along with us when we told him we lost his fur coats in a snowy wood in the back of his wardrobe? He was such an old dear. Sweet man, so good with us children. Where ever did we hide the coats again? Was it behind the grandfather clock? I don't remember."

"You don't remember because we didn't hide them." Peter snapped, his patience wearing thin. "We lost them in Narnia before the start of the golden age."

"Sure we did." Susan winked at him.

"By the lion's mane, you'd deny the tail on your own body if you could." Peter said. "Why, Susan? Why? I know it's hard to deal with the fact that we're never going back, but I thought we were in this together."

"We are." Susan said. Why did he seem so upset? "Who said otherwise?"

"You, when you talk like that." Peter explained.

"Like what?" Susan asked.

Peter wanted to scream at her but he couldn't, she looked so innocent. Like she didn't have any idea how much the way she was acting hurt him, how much it hurt all of them. Didn't she know that she could run away from who she was? It was like Susan had been replaced by a stranger with only flickering moments of resemblance to the real Susan.

He didn't want to fight, not now. It was late. "I'm going to turn in."

"See you in the morning." Susan said.

"Will you be out here much longer?" Peter asked just to be sure she'd be safe.

"No, a few more minutes, then I'll go in." Susan told him.

He kissed her goodnight and then went back inside. Peter wondered if Susan's faith was the only thing lost. In a way, he thought maybe he was also losing his own.


	21. Aftermath of faith lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day of the Infamous The Last Battle railway crash

_London England, 1949_

"Susan, please." Peter pleaded with her.

"I told you once, and I'll tell you again, no." Susan huffed, turning to her mirrored dresser and working a brush through her hair. "Darn, this knot." There was no knot there, she was just trying to change the subject, as Peter well knew.

"Why wont you come with us?" Peter asked, refusing to give up that easily.

"Because I have more important things to do than go to someone's house and dig up rings that belonged to Professor Kirke's old uncle." Susan told him.

"Like what?" Peter snapped. "hang out with your idiot friends?"

Susan glared at him. "My friends aren't the ones that drink like horses and run around naked at parties."

"Mark was not naked, his underwear was still on." Peter reminded her.

"At the masked ball yeah." Susan agreed. "But what about that party at Debbie's house when he pulled off his clothes and showed us his-"

"Susan!" Peter cut her off before she could say it. How unladylike could she be? "Mark's moronic ways are not the point. Stop changing the subject."

"Why? I already said no." Susan insisted.

"Susan this is important, it's about the well being of Narnia." Peter told her. "Don't you care about it anymore?"

"There is no Narnia." Susan said bitterly. "When are you going to grow up?"

"When are you?" Peter demanded getting very angry at this point. "What if Aslan heard you talking like that?"

"There is no Aslan." Susan said. "I don't believe in magic Lions."

Peter's eyes narrowed and darkened. "You take that back."

"Make me." Susan frowned at him and turned back to the mirror. "Why don't you go play your silly games with someone who gives a-"

"Susan!" Peter cut her off. What had happened to her? She wasn't even a little bit like the girl he'd fallen for. She was horrible. Edmund was right. How could he have even had hope that she was still Narnia's queen? That she was still his queen? Who was this witch and what had she done with his girlfriend?

"What?" She asked. That night when they'd almost fought about Narnia, she'd looked innocent. Now all of that was gone. In only 7 days she'd gone from 'spilt personality' to 'girl from your worst nightmares'.

"Susan...what's happened to you?" Peter asked as he took a step towards her. "Who is this?"

"What are you talking about?" Susan asked.

"What happened the girl who was kind and gentle and cared about others, the girl who believed in Aslan? That's the girl I'm in love with." Peter said looking at her mournfully. "Not..." he waved his hand up and down point at her. "This."

"This is me." Susan said. "This is who I am now, if you don't like it then..."

"Then what?" Peter asked.

"I don't know." Susan shook her head. "What happened to us? We used to so...different."

Peter took a step away from her and she noticed he was holding back tears. "You happened. You changed."

"People change, Peter." Susan said. "It's a fact of life. And I could say the same about you."

"I didn't change." Peter said.

"That's just it, you never grew up and I did." Susan looked like she might cry now.

"Susan, Please." He tried one last time. "Just come with us."

"I can't." Susan said loudly, nearly shouting. "Don't ask me to do that!"

"If you wont do it for Aslan or Narnia, do it for me, okay?" Peter begged. "If you care about me at all, come with us."

"That's not fair!" Susan cried. "Why do you pull these guilt trips on me?"

"It's not a guilt trip." Peter told her. "I care about you."

"You've got a funny way of showing it." Susan retorted.

Peter laughed bitterly. "I've got a funny way of showing it? You should look in a mirror some time." He turned to leave.

"Peter!" Susan called after him.

He'd hoped she'd stop him. Maybe she'd come now. Maybe everything would be alright, if only she would give in and admit that Narnia was real.

He turned around. "Don't go, why don't we just take the day off and talk or something?" Susan offered. "I wont go to my events and you can blow off the 'other world's club' (This was what she sometimes rudely referred to Edmund, Lucy, Jill, Eustace, Digory, Polly, and Peter as) and we'll fix what ever is wrong."

"I can't just blow them off." Peter looked horrified at the very thought. "Are you out of you're mind."

"You've blown off things before." Susan pointed out.

"Not things like this." Peter said firmly. "I'm sorry, Susan but I'm going, if you come with me, great, if you don't..."

"I can't believe some childhood game is more important to you than I am." Susan fumed.

"Narnia wasn't a game, darn it!" Peter shouted.

"Stop it." Susan said.

"No..." He looked her in the eye now as a new realization dawned on him. "You're not ever going to be yourself again are you? This is who your going to be for the rest of our lives isn't it?"

"I am myself." Susan said firmly.

Peter tried to hold back his tears but a few escaped. "This isn't going to work out."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Susan asked looking very hurt.

"I don't want to..." Why wouldn't she just do one thing, that proved that she believed in Narnia? One thing that proved she was still the Susan they knew and loved. "...Look, you don't have to go into the garden with us, just wait on the train with Lucy and the others. That's all you have to do."

"I wont do it." Susan was adamant.

"Goodbye Susan." Peter said as he turned to leave this time he had no intention of turning back. "And I mean that."

"Wait you are breaking up with me aren't you?" Susan realized.

"It's more than that." Peter said bitterly giving her one last look. "I never want to see you again."

How could he say that to her after all they'd been through? "Peter!" She called after him but he didn't turn around.

That evening, the door bell rang and Susan answered it. Two police officers stood there. "Miss Pevensie?"

"Yes?" she asked, moving her hair behind her ears.

The two men took off their hats and said, "We're so sorry...but..."

She barely heard their next words but she knew what they meant anyway. They were all gone. He was gone. Susan reached out her hand and took from them a briefcase that had been found. Later that day, she burned it in the back yard. Enough people had seen the research already. Ella Sting would surely come for it, but she wouldn't get it. No one was ever going to read about Professor's Kirke's Mermaid or Peter's mermaid ever again. But there was one thing she saved, The love letter to Polly. It made no mention of the mermaids and she felt it belonged, not to the ashes, but to the story-book word of broken hearts.

Before she went to sleep, she pulled Peter's old love letter out of the draw, opened the envelope and slid the professor's letter in there too. "This way, at least they're not alone." She whispered softly before she crawled into bed and cried herself to sleep.

Weeks later, Susan stood by the large memorial stone with the names of all those lost in the crash carved into it.

Gently tracing her fingers along the name "Lucy Pevensie" she whispered. "I'm sorry, Lu."

Her eyes looked at the names of her parents and then Edmund's. Then she let her fingers run along the Professor's name remembering the good kind man who's name was "Digory Kirke". Then to "Polly Plummer".

"You should have been Polly Kirke." Susan said softly but not without a sting of bitterness. "And I should have been Susan Pevensie-Burke or at least dead like you all. But I blew it. I wanted to be grown up. I wanted to forget...I'm back now...but it's too late." Tears slid down her face.

Susan then placed her fingers on Peter's name. "I still love you...High King." More tears escaped. "I always will." She sobbed. "For now on, I'm going to be the girl you fell in love with, even if you're not here. I'm going to be me again. No more lies. Just one more secret. I'm so sorry for everything."

After that, Susan placed took the dreaded lipstick tube out of her purse. "What was once used for vanity, will now be used for good." She opened the tube. In lipstick she wrote. "Queen" next to Lucy's name. Then "King" next to Edmund's name. Then "Lord" next to Digory's. Then "Lady" next to Polly's. She wished there was something she could write for Jill and Eustace too but wasn't sure what. So she scrawled, "Royalty" in-between their names for both of them. Last she put "High King" next to Peter's. The lipstick was now worn down to a knob. Susan flung it across the grave yard. It wasn't littering if it was cleaning a person. She heard the ping of it striking a grave stone in the distance.

"There!" She said feeling as though shackles and chains had been taken off of her arms and feet. She was on longer locked in by her own selfishness. By her own longing to escape the person she wasn't sure she could still be.

A sad but still existing smile now formed on her face. She ran and ran as fast as she could until she reached Peter's spot. Their spot. Susan then dived into the stream and came up as a mermaid. She looked up to the sun, causing the tears in her eyes to feel like they were on fire. Spreading out her arms she let the stream carry her in it's current for a bit. She let all the faces of her family and friends float behind her now closed eye lids. Her tail trailed behind her as she floated. The mermaid believed in fairytales once more, but not in happily ever after. She believed in the dismal endings of the old stories and wondered if she, like the little mermaid, would someday join the daughters of the air, longing for the love she'd lost and slowly soaring into a heavenly kingdom.


End file.
